Somerset Police Arrest and Charge Palm Reader with Stealing Over $70,000 from Client

MILANOVICH operated Tracy’s Psychic Palm Reader out of a location on County Street. Anyone who believed they have been victimized by MILANOVICH is asked to contact Somerset Police Officer Donald Cormier at 508-679-2138.

,,,The subsequent investigation revealed that MILANOVICH convinced the victim that her daughter was possessed by a demon, and that cash and household items were needed in order to banish the spirit from her daughter.

MILANOVICH was found to have stolen approximately $71,000 from the victim and the victim additionally purchased multiple household items for her, like towels and bedding.

Somerset Police Arrest and Charge Palm Reader with Stealing Over $70,000 from Client

Pastor pleads guilty to stealing from Camano Island church and Oso victims | News | goskagit.com

A former pastor on Camano Island pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing money from local churches and Oso mudslide survivors.

Gary Joseph Ray, 57, entered the plea Nov. 12 for three counts of first-degree theft with aggravating circumstances, according to Island County court records. Ray was charged on Oct. 5, 2018, and his case was expected to go to trial Tuesday, Nov. 19.

He is scheduled to be sentenced in Island County Superior Court in February. The standard sentencing range for each county is three to nine months in jail, however, the Island County Prosecutors Office is recommending a sentence of 12 months plus one day, which would send Ray to prison instead of jail, according to court documents.

Pastor pleads guilty to stealing from Camano Island church and Oso victims | News | goskagit.com

UPDATED::Johnson County parish priest charged with stealing at least $25,000 - KSHB.com 41 Action News

UPDATE::  Johnson County Catholic priest pleads no contest to stealing over $42,000 from church

A Johnson County Catholic priest accused of stealing more than $42,000 from his Gardner parish pleaded no contest to felony theft Friday.

The Rev. Joseph Cramer’s trial was set to start on Monday before he pleaded. He was originally charged with one count of theft and two counts of computer crime. The computer crime charges were dropped Friday.

Cramer, 68, was charged in May 2018 after he was placed on leave from Divine Mercy Parish months earlier for “financial irregularities.”

The Reverend of the Divine Mercy Parish in Gardner has been charged with theft and computer crimes.

Johnson County, Kansas prosecutors charged Rev. Joseph Cramer with stealing at least $25,000 from the parish between Nov. 16, 2015, and May 2016. Cramer also faces two counts of computer crimes.

Cramer was booked into the Johnson County Jail Thursday and posted a $5,000 bond shortly thereafter.

Johnson County parish priest charged with stealing at least $25,000 - KSHB.com 41 Action News

Pastor accused of swindling $70,000 from Prinsburg couple | West Central Tribune

A New London man faces a felony charge of theft by swindle for allegedly bilking a Prinsburg couple out of $70,000 in the guise of a loan.

Erick Anders Ortenblad, 34, made his initial appearance last week in Kandiyohi County District Court. He was released on his own recognizance on the condition he not leave Minnesota and have no contact with the alleged victims.
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According to court records, the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office received a report early this year that a couple in Prinsburg had been swindled by Ortenblad.The couple said the pastor of their church had introduced them to Ortenblad, who said he was a pastor of Experience Christ Church. They told authorities they felt they could trust him because other people in their community knew him.

Pastor accused of swindling $70,000 from Prinsburg couple | West Central Tribune

Court-Appointed Guardians Accused of Stealing Over $1M From 100 Incapacitated Victims - NBC 10 Philadelphia

A Delaware County man, his wife and his sister-in-law are accused of using a shell company and their local church to steal over $1 million from more than 100 incapacitated people they were appointed by a court to take care of.

Gloria Byars, 58, of Aldan, Pennsylvania, as well as 70-year-old Carolyn Collins and 59-year-old Keith Collins, both of Ridley Park, are charged with multiple counts of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, theft by receiving stolen property, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds and conspiracy.

The charges come after a lengthy investigation that began in February 2017 when detectives with the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office met with a newly court-appointed guardian for a 94-year-old person who was incapacitated and living in a nursing home. A guardian is appointed by the court to manage life decisions for an incapacitated person.

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In all, the three suspects victimized 108 people throughout Philadelphia and its surrounding counties in Pennsylvania, stealing a total amount of $1,009,172.01, investigators said.

Court-Appointed Guardians Accused of Stealing Over $1M From 100 Incapacitated Victims - NBC 10 Philadelphia..

Church leader allegedly embezzled money for Disney Club 33 membership

A former Los Angeles church leader was recently accused of stealing over $11 million from a church in order to purchase a home as well as a membership for Disneyland’s exclusive (and expensive) Club 33.

KTLA reports that Charles Thomas Sebesta, a 54-year-old former leader of Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist in Los Angeles, was arrested on Monday, August 26 on a federal indictment alleging he made false payments from the church’s bank accounts and siphoned off proceeds from the 2008 sale of the church’s Hollywood Boulevard flagship location. Currently, Sebesta faces six counts of wire fraud, five counts of bank fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft.

In a nutshell, Sebesta reportedly forged checks and used his position as board chairman at Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist to steal over $11 million over the course of a decade. And it seems as though he was quite the Disney fan — or at least, he was a fan of getting into an exclusive Disney eatery, since he used some of the stolen dollars to purchase a membership to Club 33, the historic, expensive, and exclusive club at Disneyland park that has been around for almost as long as Disneyland has.

Church leader allegedly embezzled money for Disney Club 33 membership

Catholic priest Joseph McLoone stole church money and spent it on himself, Grindr men, authorities say

A Catholic priest in Pennsylvania has been arrested for stealing nearly $100,000 from his church and spending it on a beach house, travel, dining and "men with whom he maintained sexual relationships," according to authorities.

Father Joseph McLoone, 56, was charged with felony theft and related crimes after diverting parish funds into a secret account, the Chester County District Attorney's Office said in a news release.

"Father McLoone held a position of leadership and his parishioners trusted him to properly handle their generous donations to the church," said District Attorney Chief of Staff Charles Gaza. "Father McLoone violated the trust of the members of St. Joseph’s for his own personal gain.”

Catholic priest Joseph McLoone stole church money and spent it on himself, Grindr men, authorities say

Bronx pastor accused of fleecing Harlem nonprofit to fuel lavish lifestyle

The CEO of a tax-payer funded nonprofit that serves some of the city’s neediest city populations bilked the organization out more than half a million dollars to fund lavish vacations and high-end dinners, prosecutors said.

Reginald Williams, 67, allegedly hatched a series of schemes to rip off the the Addicts Rehabilitation Center Foundation, which he ran, and a related group called the Addicts Rehabilitation Center Fund.

Both groups provide social services and housing to drug addicts and those living with HIV and AIDS.
Williams is also the longtime pastor of the Charity Baptist Church in the South Bronx.

 Williams also enlisted the help of co-defendants Naomi Barrera, 42, the current president and CEO of the ARC Foundation, and Bennie Hadnott, 74, a financial consultant, to pull off the schemes.

Bronx pastor accused of fleecing Harlem nonprofit to fuel lavish lifestyle

Priest’s Car Crash Reveals Cash Stolen From Santa Rosa Parish – CBS San Francisco

Little did the emergency workers treating Father Oscar Diaz after car crash in Santa Rosa last week know the hidden secret they would find in the back of the vehicle.

Nestled in the back, according to a release from the Santa Rosa diocese, were bags containing stolen parish collections totaling $18,305.86.

“This money was associated with Resurrection Parish in Santa Rosa where Father Oscar was pastor,” said Bishop Robert F. Vasa in a diocese news release. “After an initial investigation and several interviews, the police determined that the protocols surrounding collection accounting would make it difficult to arrive at sufficient proof of theft to pursue criminal prosecution.”

But after the initial discovery, further investigation and search revealed that he had an additional $77,000 in cash which had apparently been taken from the parishes where he served.

Priest’s Car Crash Reveals Cash Stolen From Santa Rosa Parish – CBS San Francisco

Sheriff: Pastor accused of exploiting vulnerable adult, may be more victims | News | wnem.com

A local pastor accused of exploiting an elderly person has been charged.

The Genesee County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of Pastor Raymond Vliet.

Vliet, pastor of Old Beth-el general Baptist Church in Mt. Morris Township, faces charges of embezzling $20,000 to $50,000 from a vulnerable adult and committing a financial transaction without consent.

Sheriff: Pastor accused of exploiting vulnerable adult, may be more victims | News | wnem.com

UPDATED::Former Houston's First Baptist Church minister accused of embezzling $800k from church | khou.com

UPDATE::  Texas pastor who stole over $800,000 from his church will go to prison for a decade

Over a period of more than six years as the head of Houston First Baptist Church, former minister Jerrell G. Altic, 40, stole more than $800,000 in funds from the people he was meant to serve.

This past week, Altic was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his misdeeds.

The church did not discover the discrepancy in funds from its coffers until late in 2017, when it saw a series of transactions that were connected to Altic. When they confronted the minister about the money transfers, he immediately resigned from his position, and the church passed on the information to the local authorities.

A Harris County grand jury indicted a former Houston's First Baptist Church minister Monday for allegedly stealing more than $800,000 from the church.


Jerrell G. Altic, 40, allegedly embezzled the money during a six-year period that ended in November 2017, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors say Altic allegedly spent the stolen funds on overseas trips with his family, groceries and to pay for his doctorate in divinity from Lancaster Bible College.

They added that he stole the money in a number of ways, including forged payments authorizations.

Altic surrendered to authorities around 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Former Houston's First Baptist Church minister accused of embezzling $800k from church | khou.com

UPDATED::Lakewood rabbi facing charges steps down from SCHI school leadership

UPDATE:: Rabbi found guilty of money laundering won’t go to prison thanks to a ‘selfless life,’ judge says 

A New Jersey rabbi found guilty of laundering $200,000 from a private school for children with developmental disabilities was sentenced Monday afternoon to two years probation.

Osher Eisemann, 62, founded the Lakewood-based School for Children with Hidden Intelligence during the 1990s, inspired by his own son’s special needs. He was found guilty in February of second degree charges of money laundering and misconduct by a corporate official at the close of a four-week trial.

The second degree charges can carry sentences of five to 10 years in state prison, but Judge Benjamin Bucca found the mitigating factors outweighed the aggravating factors in the sentencing, moving him to hand down the rare sentence of probation, which skirted mandatory minimums.

UPDATE::  Lakewood SCHI founder stole nearly $1 million, faces stiffer charge, AG says

The head of a controversial special education school here, already facing allegations of money laundering, has been charged with an additional, more severe corruption count, state officials said Friday.

The New Jersey attorney general says further investigation discovered Rabbi Osher Eisemann, the founder of the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence, wired $450,000 in public tuition funds from the school to "an entity in New York state owned by an associate." That money was then used by the "associate" to pay off past-due New Jersey taxes, according to the attorney general.

In a new indictment filed Friday, Eisemann is charged with first-degree corruption of public resources, a crime that could carry a prison sentence of 10 to 20 years prison if he is convicted. The school's fundraising foundation, Services for Hidden Intelligence, is also charged with the corruption count. 

A rabbi charged with stealing $630,000 in public tuition funds through the special-needs school he leads is taking a voluntary leave of absence, his attorney said Tuesday.

Rabbi Osher Eisemann, 60, is founder and director of the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence. Eisemann was charged in a four-count state indictment earlier this year. He has pleaded not guilty.

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The charges against Eisemann include theft by unlawful taking, misapplication of government property, misconduct by a corporate official, and money laundering — all second-degree offenses that carry up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $150,000, state Attorney General Christopher Porrino has said.

Lakewood rabbi facing charges steps down from SCHI school leadership

UPDATED::Feds target Westminster church suspected of swindling $25 million from Vietnamese investors

UPDATE:: 2 Pastors Charged With Running Ponzi Scheme Out Of Westminster Storefront Church

Two pastors of a Westminster storefront church have been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with running it as a Ponzi scheme, stealing as much as $25 million from 442 victims in the Vietnamese community.

The Church For The Healthy Self Facebook page says the organization was started in February 2011 with a mission to promote great opportunities for those in need. The SEC says the church was started by Kent Whitney and David Lee Parrish, just three months after Whitney was released from prison for defrauding investors in a scheme he ran with Parrish.

A “virtual church” operating out of a Westminster strip mall has been shut down amid an FBI investigation into two pastors accused of orchestrating a $25 million Ponzi scheme that swindled hundreds of Vietnamese investors.

The two clergymen with The Church for the Healthy Self are suspected of using funds from investors to purchase Rolex watches, a Bentley automobile, Gucci apparel and guns, and to pay rent ranging from $7,500 to $11,000 a month for various Newport Beach properties, according to court records.
 
Earlier this month, a U.S. District Court judge, acting on a motion from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, froze the assets of the church, which operated in a Little Saigon strip mall until it closed March 14.

Behind the church’s locked doors Friday, a stack of Bibles sat on a table in front of a black leather sofa. Resting next to a big-screen TV was a poster touting the church’s 2019 Fairway to Heaven celebrity golf tournament, held in January at the ritzy Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Beach.

An SEC complaint says self-described pastor Kent R.E. Whitney, 37, of Newport Beach founded the Church for the Healthy Self in 2014, three months after completing a 44-month prison sentence for scamming more than $600,000 from 10 investors as part of a $96 million commodities scam.

Feds target Westminster church suspected of swindling $25 million from Vietnamese investors

Inter-Faith Ministries ex-director stole money from church | The Wichita Eagle

The former executive director of a religious charity in Wichita has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to stealing over $100,000 from his church.

Garland Egerton, 66, was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $129,556 in restitution, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said in a news release. The judge gave Egerton an underlying sentence of 32 months in prison if he violates his probation.

Egerton was also ordered to attend a theft offender class and to have no contact with the Unity of Wichita Church.

Inter-Faith Ministries ex-director stole money from church | The Wichita Eagle

Florida woman claims devil told her to steal car | abc7ny.com

A woman was arrested after stealing an SUV from an Ace Rent-a-Car.

WJXT reports that Gardina McCullough, 23 appeared in court Friday morning on car theft charges, with a bond set at $15,003.


McCullough was arrested after stealing a Toyota RAV4 from an Ace Rent-A-Car.

She was found less than a mile away, hiding at a hotel.

On the scene, McCullough told a local news station, "Demons told me to do it...I didn't take it, demons took it."
Florida woman claims devil told her to steal car | abc7ny.com

Authorities: Administrator, wife stole $1.2M from church | WJAC

Authorities say a western Pennsylvania church administrator stole $1.2 million that he and his wife used to pay for vacations, sports tickets and other personal expenses. 

The Allegheny County District Attorney's Office says 50-year-old David Reiter, of South Park, is charged with theft, forgery and receiving stolen property. His 44-year-old wife, Connie Reiter, faces two counts of receiving stolen property.

Authorities say the money was stolen from the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Upper St. Clair over the course of about 17 years.

Authorities: Administrator, wife stole $1.2M from church | WJAC:

UPDATED::Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing teen boys has disappeared, church says | Fox News

UPDATE::  Dallas Police Issue Arrest Warrant for Fugitive Priest Accused of Abusing Teens

Dallas police have issued an arrest warrant for a priest who was previously accused of molesting three teens after another accuser came forward, The Dallas Morning News reports. Edmundo Paredes, formerly the priest at St. Cecilia Catholic Church, was reportedly accused of sexually assaulting three teenage boys over a decade ago and stealing from the church,,,

A Catholic priest in Dallas who has been accused of molesting young boys and stealing from the parish has disappeared, church officials announced.

Rev. Edmundo Paredes, a longtime pastor at St. Cecilia Catholic Church, is accused of having molested teenage boys – an allegation Dallas police have found to be credible, Bishop Edward Burns, of the Dallas diocese, said.

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Paredes had already been suspended from St. Cecilia Catholic Church and removed from its ministry in June 2017, according to Burns. At the time, he was accused of stealing $60,000 to $80,000 from the parish. Paredes admitted to the financial misconduct.

In February, church officials were informed Paredes allegedly molested at least three teenage boys during his time at the church – where he was pastor for 27 years, according to the Dallas News.

Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing teen boys has disappeared, church says | Fox News

Treasurer stole nearly $170K from Bellefonte church, police said | WJAC

A Bellefonte man is facing more than 300 counts of theft and receiving stolen property after writing checks to himself from a church’s account, according to police.

Police said 56-year-old Charles Kormanski wrote 379 checks to himself from St. John Lutheran Church, totaling nearly $170,000, over the course of seven years, beginning on Christmas 2011.

Police said church officials became suspicious when one of its members, who was in the financial profession, began taking a closer look at the church’s accounts and alerted the church that it would run out of money if something wasn’t done.

Treasurer stole nearly $170K from Bellefonte church, police said | WJAC

Pastor accused of stealing almost $35,000 from northeast North Dakota parish | Grand Forks Herald

A former pastor faces 10 years in prison after being accused of stealing almost $35,000 from his parish in northeast North Dakota over the past 14 years.

Donald Lee Reynolds, an Edmore resident who was born in 1959, is scheduled to appear at the end of the month in Ramsey County District Court on a Class B felony charge of theft.

A criminal complaint filed in late October alleges he stole $34,668. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Bishop Terry Brandt of the Eastern North Dakota Synod in Fargo confirmed the document refers to funds allegedly stolen from the High Plains Ministry, a congregation of six churches in northeast North Dakota that consolidated in 2004.

Pastor accused of stealing almost $35,000 from northeast North Dakota parish | Grand Forks Herald

Against orders, priest leaves diocese, treatment program after pleading guilty to theft | Crime & Courts | rapidcityjournal.com

A former Rapid City priest who pleaded guilty to stealing hundreds of dollars of church donations has left a treatment program and the diocese, going against instructions from the bishop, according to the diocese's December newsletter.

Marcin Garbacz was suspended from his ministry duties in May after church officials caught him stealing and sent to a six-month treatment program in St. Louis.

In July, he was charged with first-degree embezzlement of property received in trust and first-degree petty theft in the alternative, which means he could only be convicted on one of the counts. Garbacz pleaded guilty to the theft charge on Oct. 26.

He received a suspended imposition of sentence — which means his record will be sealed from the public, but not the courts or police — from Judge Bernard Schuchmann on Oct 31. Garbacz paid $334 in fines and costs, and $620 in restitution to the church, a clerk said.

While Garbacz appears to have complied with the court system, the diocese says he's not following church orders.

Against orders, priest leaves diocese, treatment program after pleading guilty to theft | Crime & Courts | rapidcityjournal.com