UPDATED::Kingsport pastor charged with stealing thousands from church - WJHL.com

 

A Kingsport pastor is now charged with stealing more than $60,000 from his church.

Sullivan County grand jurors indicted Victory Apostolic Church Pastor Boyd Holder this week on a charge of theft over $60,000 and money laundering. Prosecutors confirmed he was arrested and bonded out of jail.

The charge comes more than three months after Kingsport police opened an investigation.On February 6, investigators say several members of the congregation came to police with concerns over a substantial sum of money being missing from the church coffers. Congregants said the missing funds coincided with Holder's tenure as the pastor and primary financial agent of their church.

"My client is not guilty and our system of justice will prevail," Holder's attorney Rick Spivey said today.
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Kingsport police said today they could not go into any details about what specifically Holder is accused of spending the church's money on. However, representatives of two online dating sites are listed as witnesses in the presentment. We found a profile picture on one of the dating sites that is identical to the picture that was on Holder's Facebook page Friday morning, before he apparently shut down his Facebook account. The only difference between the two pictures is you can't see the person's face on the dating site profile.

Kingsport pastor charged with stealing thousands from church - WJHL.com


Updated to add::  Hemant Mehta has an excellent write up concerning Holder that connects the dots very nicely:

Actually, investigative reporter Nate Morabito found out that two of the witnesses during this money laundering case were representatives from online dating sites, one of which specifically caters to gay men. (In case you’re wondering where some of that money was going…)
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To be clear, it’s irrelevant if the pastor is gay. But if he’s having sex with another man while preaching against homosexuality, then screw him.

And if he’s stealing the church’s money along the way, let’s hope the punishment fits the crime.

At least on that latter issue, though, it’s appalling that people remained in a church that offered no financial accountability. There needs to be a way for others to double-check where the money is going no matter what type of business you’re running. And if your church leaders aren’t allowing that, you should assume the worst.