A Columbus pastor was indicted today on charges that he stole more than $1 million from his church.
David A. Thompson, 46, of Canal Winchester, converted money from the World of Pentecost Church, 3431 E. Main St, for his own gain, prosecutors claim. The church formerly was known as Apostolic Church of Christ.
A Franklin County grand jury today indicted Thompson, who no longer is pastor of the church, on 23 charges.
He is charged with two counts of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, one count of theft, three counts of tampering with records, nine counts of money laundering, one count of forgery and seven counts of filing incomplete, false and fraudulent returns.
Oh, and one count of being a dick…
My problem with this kind of crime is simple. Founding pastors and their progeny tend to treat their church as personal property. It is not much of s stretch for pastors to move from ruling from the pulpit to thinking of church assets as personal property. I can think of a couple dozen examples from the last three years.
