The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday that a pastor who misappropriated $200,000 from a local church during the COVID-19 pandemic had misappropriated $200,000 from a local church.
Curtis Frank Lemons, who previously lived in Camarillo and now lives in Atka, Tennessee, pleaded guilty in April to count three felony. The charges stem from his actions while serving as pastor at Oxnard’s New Progressive Christian Baptist Church in late 2020.
Prosecutors said Lemons issued a $200,000 cashier check from the church bank account in December 2020. The longtime patriarch of the church was a serious illness, and the congregations were dealing with the uncertainty of the early pandemic.
Court records show that in the following months, Lemons used the funds to pay a variety of personal expenses, including dental work, airline tickets, new vehicles, cell phones and real estate.
“This is a sad case,” senior assistant prosecutor attorney Howard Wise, who led the prosecutor, said in a statement. “Mr. Lemons stole from the vulnerable victim. The church head was almost dying when this happened with the onset of Covid. Mr. Lemons made a terrible decision but accepted responsibility for his important theft.”
An investigation by the Oxnard Police Department revealed economic contradictions after church officials reported shortages of funds. At one point, Lemons claimed he had donated money to a charity, but investigators found no evidence to support the allegations.
In addition to his prison sentence, Lemons was ordered to pay the church $200,000 in full reparation.
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