A former California assistant pastor has been sentenced to two years in state jail for stealing funds from a church while its founding pastor was dying, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office reported on Friday.
Curtis Frank Lemons, 68, stole $200,000 from New Progressive Christian Baptist Church in Oxnard, Southern California, while working as an associate pastor in 2020. Oxnard is approximately 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Lemons’ crime occurred at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and founding pastor Jesse James Taylor was months away from death.
“It’s a tragic case. Mr. Lemons stole from a vulnerable victim at a vulnerable time,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Howard Wise stated. “The patriarch of the church was near death when this happened at the onset of COVID.”
In April, Lemons pled guilty to two counts of grand theft and one count of money laundering, according to the district attorney.
Prosecutors claim Lemons issued himself a $200,000 cashier’s check from the church’s bank account in December 2020.
When church officials reported the missing monies to authorities, Oxnard police investigated and discovered financial irregularities involving Lemons.
Lemons falsely stated that he donated the church’s funds to charity.
Instead, police discovered that Lemons used the stolen monies for personal costs, like dental work, airline flights, a new cell phone, a vehicle, and Tennessee property. He made all of these transactions between January and April 2021.
The district attorney’s office stated at the time of his sentencing that Lemons lived in Atoka, Tennessee, but had previously lived in Camarillo, California.
Lemons will now be held in state prisons. The court also ordered Lemons to pay $200,000 in restitution to the church.
“Mr. Lemons made a terrible decision but has accepted responsibility for his significant theft,” Wise noted.
Pastor Taylor of New Progressive passed away in August 2021 at the age of 87, according to his obituary. The obituary does not clarify whether his death was caused by COVID-19.
Taylor was described as the “visionary and organizer” of the ministry on the church’s Facebook page. In Facebook comments, friends and family referred to Taylor as a “longtime community staple” and a “great man of God.”
