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A Baptist pastor faces up to five years in prison for his role in a real estate scheme that bilked $1.5 million from lenders and home buyers, including some members of his congregation.

The Rev. Paul J. Starnes, 40, pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to wire fraud and money laundering charges.

The leader of the Morning Star Church in Springfield is scheduled to be sentenced on May 9. His lawyer, Peter Ettenberg, said he will ask that Starnes be placed on probation. But Assistant U.S. Attorney William Welch indicated he would push for Starnes to serve 51 to 63 months behind bars.

Welch said Starnes and two others were involved in a land-flip scheme that involved buying depressed properties, paying off appraisers to inflate their values, recruiting poor first-time buyers and drafting phony financial documents to obtain mortgages.

Welch said at least two of the approximately 20 home buyers who wound up defaulting on their mortgages were members of Starnes' congregation.

Starnes formerly owned Trinity Mortgage Brokerage Inc. and was a partner in Trinity Land Co., which purchased and sold properties in the Springfield area.

The two others charged in the case, David McCoy and Marc Brown, were also brokers at the mortgage company, authorities have said.

McCoy is scheduled to stand trial next week, and Brown pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme last month.

Ettenberg said Starnes is "glad this part of the process is behind him."

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Anonymous Nanabanana said...
Seems as though there is more criminality amongst the religious community then any other group! It's so prevalent!


Anonymous Anonymous said...
It's the love of money not god.


Anonymous Bob (Been There, Got the T-Shirt) said...
"Hey, Mama, is it true what they say
That Papa never worked a day in his life?
And Mama, some bad talk goin' around goin' around town
Sayin' that Papa had three outside children and another wife
And that ain't right

Hey, talk about Papa doing some storefront preaching
Talking about saving your soul
And all the time leaching
Dealing in debt and stealing in the name of the Lord

Mama, I'm depending on you to tell me the truth
And Mama hung her head and said
Papa was a rolling stone"

Just about says it all...


Anonymous Anonymous said...
A CNN report after 9/11 showed that 92% of Americans considered themselves Christians. With that it mind, do you not think that with such a large percentage of the population making a Christian claim that is where the crime is going to come from? I shall not take either side, but if only 8% are other religions or no relgion, then there will not be many stories on those people.


Blogger .:webmaster:. said...
These articles expose criminal behavior in Christian leaders - pastors and such.


Anonymous GOD said...
This is GOD speaking.

The fact that this man is a pastor is irrelevant. His pastoral-ship of his chosen false religion is a man made appointment, not mine. I do not require worship. All participants in the earthly practice of religion are worshiping false Gods. I am the only true GOD. I bestowed upon him, and all humans, the right to make your own choices. I do not punish or judge you for your choices.

I have spoken.


Anonymous Jim Lee said...
Show me any bible believin' Christian and I'll show you a hypocrite.


Anonymous Jim Lee said...
In Ausralia about 27% of the population are church going Christians. About another 53% believe in a God of some sort. And about 20% are atheist. These are only rough percentages but its somewhat close. Many Christians are thieves and they don't realise it.They copy music, copy books, and videos and that is an infringement of copyrite law.


Anonymous Nanabanana said...
I don't buy those statistics that say 92% in USA consider themselves Christians. I have come across and know, more and more, FAR too many who think like us in his Ex-Christian community to believe that BS. It all depends on how the question(s) was/were asked, for one thing. In any case, the percentages are still too high.

Love all the comments here. Jim Lee, your "Show me any bible believin' Christian and I'll show you a hypocrite." is so right on!


Blogger cdmon said...
Anonymous said: "A CNN report after 9/11 showed that 92% of Americans considered themselves Christians."

If it were a random poll, and mostly xians answered that poll, it might give that type of result. Perhaps if the poll were given primarily in the southern states.

Sorry, but that poll was entirely inaccurate.

While a little less one-sided than Fox News, CNN is not exactly the liberal media either.

It should read A CNN report after 9/11 showed results of their random poll with a + or - X percentage of error, indicated that 92% of those polled claimed to be xian. That would be more plausible.

Suggesting that 92% of all Americans are xian is absolutely ludicrous and severly wishful thinking on someone's part.

Cheers


Anonymous Anonymous said...
Dr. Paul Freed "renowned" Christian marriage counselor is a fraud. Don't have enough evidence yet, but soon will. So I can't say why I believe he is a fraud. If anyone has any specific evidence concerning Dr. Paul Freed and his fraudulent ways please post it! His web-site is www.marriagemakersfamily.net Please, Pass this on to any ignorant people that may be pulled into the manipulator's so called ministry!


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