Bishop Lamor Whitehead, 45-year-old Brooklyn pastor who became famous after being robbed at gunpoint during his church’s livestreamed worship service in June, was arrested Monday (Dec. 19) and charged with fraud and lying to federal agents.
Whitehead pastors Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn. It was while he was preaching a sermon there that armed thieves stole over $1 million worth of jewelry from him and his wife.
This is the second time in three months that Whitehead has been arrested. On September 18, the pastor was placed in handcuffs after a worship service in which he forcefully removed a woman who was disruptively protesting during his sermon. Officers told Whitehead he was going to be charged with assault. Hours later, he was informed that the charges were dropped and he was free to go.
One of the charges Whitehead was arrested for on Monday previously made headlines shortly after he was robbed this past summer. News outlets reported that a lawsuit was filed against Whitehead in 2021, accusing him of stealing $90,000 from 56-year-old Pauline Anderson, a congregant at his church.
Anderson allegedly gave Whitehead her entire retirement fund after the pastor said he would help her purchase a home, something Whitehead helped her son with. Anderson had reached out to Whitehead after realizing her bad credit made it difficult to secure a home loan.
Months went by before Anderson realized Whitehead was still holding her money, at which point Whitehead allegedly informed her that her $90,000 was “a donation” to his election campaign for Brooklyn borough president that he was not obligated to return.
A statement released by the Department of Justice on Monday revealed that Whitehead also allegedly extorted $5,000 from a businessman, attempting to get the man to “lend him $500,000 and give him a stake in certain real estate transactions in return for favorable actions from the New York City government, which Whitehead knew he could not obtain.”
In the statement, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams shared some direct words for the pastor. “As we allege today,” Williams said, “Lamor Whitehead abused the trust placed in him by a parishioner, bullied a businessman for $5,000, then tried to defraud him of far more than that, and lied to federal agents. His campaign of fraud and deceit stops now.”
