Kisha Smith
In national church news, the Brooklyn pastor who made headlines for being robbed at gunpoint of $1 million in jewelry during a church service in July, has been arrested for fraud, extortion and false statements.
The indictment charges Lamor Whitehead with defrauding one of his parishioners out of approximately $90,000 of her retirement savings, attempting to extort and defraud a businessman, and lying to the FBI.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As we allege today, Lamor Whitehead abused the trust placed in him by a parishioner, bullied a businessman for $5,000, then tried to defraud him of far more than that, and lied to federal agents. His campaign of fraud and deceit stops now.”
Whitehead is charged with two counts of wire fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; one count of extortion, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and one count of making material false statements, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.