UPDATED::Former pastor John Bishop arrested in California | The Columbian

ADDENDUM:: The Church of Living Dangerously: How One of America’s Biggest Pastors Became a Drug Runner for a Mexican Cartel

John Lee Bishop was sentenced to five years in prison for transporting drugs across the border from Mexico. Bishop was once one of the most famous pastors in the country, running one of the fasting growing megachurches. Bishop went from inspiring people in the Billy Graham like vain, to being a drug trafficker because he was desperate for cash.

… as Bishop reached the border checkpoint, he flashed the Customs agent a smile. What were you doing in Mexico? the agent asked. Finishing up a religious mission, Bishop replied. Where are you headed? Chula Vista, Bishop said. A church.
Operating out of routine, the agent climbed down on his back and slid under the car. Then something caught his attention. Getting up, he crowbarred the trunk and began ripping apart the car. One by one, agents pulled out small, tightly wrapped packages of weed — in the dash, the bumpers, the wheel well, the rear seats. There were 105 packages in all, weighing nearly 300 pounds.

UPDATE:: John Bishop sentenced to 5 years for drug smuggling

Former Vancouver pastor John Bishop was sentenced to five years in prison on a federal drug-smuggling charge Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

As Bishop, 55, entered the courtroom wearing a tan jumpsuit with an orange shirt underneath, he mouthed, “I love you” to his estranged wife Michelle Bishop, and frequently turned toward her during the proceedings. 

The founder and former senior pastor of Vancouver’s Living Hope Church gave his “deepest apologies to the United States of America, to this court, to your honor, to my family, to my previous church family in my city that I came from and mostly to my wife.” As he spoke, Michelle Bishop, 55, was in the courtroom, at times wiping tears from her face. Her mother sat with her. 

Sentencing began Tuesday in closed court. Wednesday’s session concluded a nearly yearlong process that began when John Bishop was arrested Dec. 11, 2017, by federal officials at the border crossing from Tijuana, Mexico, to the San Diego suburb of San Ysidro, Calif. He was driving a gray 2014 Volkswagen Passat, which contained 105 packages of marijuana concealed in the car’s bumpers, rear seat, dashboard and at least one wheel well.

John Bishop, the former lead pastor of Vancouver’s Living Hope Church, is facing a federal drug charge in U.S. District Court in Southern California for allegedly trying to smuggle more than 280 pounds of marijuana into the country from Mexico.

The 54-year-old was arrested Dec. 11 after he was stopped about 5:25 a.m. by U.S. Customs and Border Protection while re-entering the country through the port of entry at San Ysidro, Calif. Bishop reportedly told border patrol agents he was driving to Chula Vista, Calif., according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case.

While conducting a routine inspection of Bishop’s gray Volkswagen Jetta, the officer found packages hidden in a wheel well. A narcotics detection dog was summoned and subsequently alerted officers to the undercarriage and trunk of the car, the affidavit states.

The car was taken apart revealing 105 packages weighing 281.88 pounds that field-tested positive for marijuana. Packages were removed from the car’s bumpers, rear seat, dashboard and at least one wheel well, the court document said.


Former pastor John Bishop arrested in California | The Columbian