Pastor Accused of Stealing Nearly $1-Million From Nonprofit
August 14, 2014 | Read Time: 1 minute
An Oklahoma minister has been charged with diverting into his own pocket some $933,000 from the coffers of a nonprofit organization he founded and led, writes the Tulsa World.
Prosecutors said Willard Lenord Jones, pastor of Greater Cornerstone Baptist Church in Tulsa, transferred funds from the Greater Cornerstone Community Center into church accounts, then put the money into his own accounts and used it for personal expenses and luxuries. He was indicted on charges of wire fraud and filing a false tax return.
The alleged thefts occurred between September 2007, when Mr. Jones founded the nonprofit community center, and June 2013, when he stepped down as its executive director. He raised $7.2-million to build the center, which opened in September 2012.
