PAMLICO COUNTY, NC (WITN) – A pastor was found guilty of embezzling more than $100,000 from an elderly woman here in Eastern Carolina.

Thomas Steele, 63, a pastor at New Life Baptist Church in Concord, was convicted Friday on embezzlement charges and four counts of exploitation of an elderly adult.

District Attorney Scott Thomas says Steele took more than $120,000 from an elderly woman from Grantsboro in the month’s after her husband’s death.

The victim, who is now 85, testified that she did not authorize for Steele to take her money and did not know that he had access to her accounts. Thomas says a family friend noticed the suspicious activity and reported it to law enforcement.

“This case demonstrates the importance of being aware of our older relatives and friends,” said Thomas.

Steele was sentenced to up to 8 years in prison. He was also ordered to pay restitution of more than $123,000 to the victim.

A North Carolina pastor was found guilty of embezzling more than $123,000 from an elderly woman five years ago, according to a district attorney.

Thomas Steele, 63, of Concord was convicted on four counts of exploitation of an elderly adult as well as a charge of embezzlement of more than $100,000, District Attorney Scott Thomas said in a news release on Wednesday.

The 85-year-old victim testified in a Pamlico County court that she didn’t authorize Steele to take her money and did not know until much later that he had used his access to her accounts and a power-of-attorney she had given him to take her life’s savings, according to the news release.

Bank records showed that in 2015, the money was embezzled from the victim in the 13 months following her husband’s death, the news release said. Thomas noted that suspicious activities were noticed by a relative and reported to law enforcement.

Steele, who was convicted last Friday, was sentenced to 73 to 100 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $123,367.

SOURCE: Associated Press

BAYBORO—A Concord pastor has been convicted in Pamlico County of embezzlement of more than $100,000 and four counts of exploitation of an elder adult in Grantsboro.

Thomas Wayne Steele, 63, was pastor of the New Life Baptist Church in Concord, a city just east of Charlotte. According to District Attorney Scott Thomas, Pamlico Sheriff’s investigators found that Steele took more than $120,000 from a widow and family friend who lives in Grantsboro.

Extensive bank records showed that, in 2015, the money was embezzled from the victim in the 13 months following her husband’s death. The victim, now 85, testified that she did not authorize Steele to take her money, and did not know until much later that he had used his access to her accounts, and a power of attorney she had given him, to take her life savings.

“This case demonstrates the importance of being aware of our older relatives and friends,” Thomas said in a news release. “The defendant’s suspicious activities were noticed by a relative of the victim and reported… My office will continue to protect our older citizens from financial exploitation.”

After his conviction in a jury trial, Steele was sentenced to a prison term of 73 to 100 months, and was ordered to pay restitution to the victim of $123,367.09.

Source: New Bern Sun Journal

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

A North Carolina pastor was found guilty of embezzling more than $123,000 from an elderly woman five years ago, according to a district attorney.

Thomas Steele, 63, of Concord was convicted on four counts of exploitation of an elderly adult as well as a charge of embezzlement of more than $100,000, District Attorney Scott Thomas said in a news release on Wednesday.

The 85-year-old victim testified in a Pamlico County court that she didn’t authorize Steele to take her money and did not know until much later that he had used his access to her accounts and a power-of-attorney she had given him to take her life’s savings, according to the news release.

Bank records showed that in 2015, the money was embezzled from the victim in the 13 months following her husband’s death, the news release said. Thomas noted that suspicious activities were noticed by a relative and reported to law enforcement.

Steele, who was convicted last Friday, was sentenced to 73 to 100 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $123,367.

SOURCE: Associated Press

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

After both pregnancies with our first two children, my wife, Anna, dealt with severe postpartum depression. With Gabriel, our firstborn, it lasted about nine months. With Lily, our second, almost a year passed before she started to feel like herself again. There were many mornings when it felt as if we’d never find our way to the other side. Anna often woke up with what I can only describe as a cloud of blackness over her mind.

Usually, instead of settling into the hopelessness, she chose to sing, pray or call a friend. I always knew my wife was a fighter, but these moments of unwavering devotion to God and her family convinced me I’d married a warrior. She would often ask me to tell her things that didn’t make sense to me at the moment, such as “You’re not alone” and “You won’t always feel like this.” While I always thought it was silly that she wanted to hear things she already knew, I told her anyway. Any glimmer of hope in the dark hole she felt lost in was welcome, no matter how it came. If there were ever a time in our lives we dealt with the lie of abandonment, it was then.

Our daughter Lily went through some major life-threatening health issues. Unfortunately, these two circumstances coincided. We were in what felt like the perfect storm from hell, with Anna battling debilitating postpartum depression and our daughter fighting for her life.

Right around this time, Sarah and John Mark McMillan released their song, “King of My Heart.” The truths in the lyrics were anchors for our hearts. The declarations, “You are good!” and “You’re never going to let me down!” gave us the language of faith we needed to declare a greater reality than the one we were living.

Anna sang and prophesied this song until she believed with resilient conviction that God had not left her on her own. Even when we weren’t entirely convinced that the words were true, we sang, and the more we sang, the louder we heard His love roaring above the lies.

In Deuteronomy 31:6 the Father made the everlasting promise that He will never leave us or forsake us. What the Father promises in this Scripture is His undivided, uncompromising devotion to us. His heart will ever be leaning in toward us. He will never give up on us, never turn His back on us and never leave us. Even in the midst of great trials, when we felt as if God were a million miles away, He was still good, and His plans for us were full of hope, life and deep joy.

SOURCE: Charisma News

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

Persecuted Iranian Christian Dabrina Bet Tamraz vividly remembers the day that her family’s church was shut down.

The day was Monday, March 30, 2009, when her family home received a phone call from the government demanding that her father, Victor Bet Tamraz — the pastor of an Assyrian Pentecostal congregation in Tehran — meet at his church.

The family arrived at the church and were greeted by lots of cars and big men. The pastor was given the choice by a government official to either “give up the keys” to the church or ensure that the church only allows Assyrian speaking members.

Speaking at a Family Research Council panel discussion on religious freedom in Iran Wednesday afternoon, Tamraz explained that the family and church members asked to be given a few hours to pray about what their decision will be.

After a couple of hours, Tamraz said her father walked out of the church and handed the keys to an official from the intelligence service.

“[My father] said, ‘Thank you very much. You have done us a great favor. We don’t know how to thank you. Please close down the church,’” Tamraz recalled. “He looks at my dad and said, ‘Are you crazy? Why are you saying thank you?’”

Tamraz said that during the prayer time in the church, the congregation heard from God that if they allow the authorities to close down the church, He will “open the gates of Heaven.”

“My father said, ‘Thank you, because I can’t wait for God to open the gates of Heaven for people to shout Hallelujah on the streets,’” Tamraz said.

Today, Tamraz’s father, mother, and brother are among dozens of Christians facing jail time, abuse and torture in the Islamic Republic of Iran simply because of their faith in Jesus Christ.

Tamraz’s father is in the process of appealing a 10-year prison sentence he received in 2017. He was arrested in 2014 during a Christmas gathering and was held for 65 days in solitary confinement. Tamraz’s father was accused of acting against national security by conducting house church meetings and evangelizing.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Samuel Smith

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source