A New York pastor who was robbed of more than $1 million in jewelry last week while preaching Sunday sermon has been charged with stealing $90,000 from a member of his church in 2021.
A lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court accused Bishop Lamor Whitehead of persuading Pauline Anderson, 56, to put almost all of her life’s savings into one of his businesses.
Whitehead talked Anderson into getting the money on the pretext he wanted to help her procure a home, not minding her poor credit records.
The New York Post Thursday reported that Whitehead agreed to pay Anderson $100 every month because her savings were her only source of income.
After months had passed without the regular installments or any movement on the home purchase, Whitehead early last year reportedly notified Anderson that he was treating her investment as a contribution to his then campaign for Brooklyn borough president.
NYP said Anderson found out the pastor used the funds as down payment on a $4.4 million home for himself in Saddle River, New Jersey, when he unintentionally sent an email about the purchase to her son, Rasheed, who had initially connected them.
The acquisition of Saddle River did not materialize but Whitehead bought a $4.5 million apartment building in Hartford, Connecticut.
Whitehead told the woman afterwards that he had no duty to repay the money because he was investing it in his business, leaving her with nothing but a vague promise to pay the funds back in the future.
For Whitehead’s “morally repugnant activities” and for “losing her whole life savings,” Anderson is seeking $1 million in compensation, the petition read.
The case is pending in court.
