Identity theft charges were dropped against 901 Church lead pastor Stevie Flockhart by Shelby County Judge Ronald Lucchesi on Wednesday (Dec. 27).
Flockhart, who has been a contestant on the hit television singing shows “American Idol” and “The Voice,” was arrested in November for identity theft and theft of merchandise between $2,500 and $10,000.
According to an arrest affidavit, Flockhart and a church member, the alleged victim Mark McCall, opened a credit card for the church a few years ago. McCall told police he was reluctant to do so and later discovered that his credit score had dropped due an unknown credit card that was opened in his name and had over $6,000 in unpaid debt.
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“It was the absolute worst betrayal of my life, hands down,” McCall told FOX13 after he found out the the judge dropped the charges against Flockhart.
McCall said he and Flockhart had been friends since the pastor was a teenager and indicated that he had trusted the pastor. He told a local news outlet that Flockhart “referred to me like a second dad. I mean, I was like a second parent to him. I treated his family like they were my own kids.”
McCall said Flockhart asked him to open an American Express credit card for 901 Church that would have both of their names on it.
“He called and said, ‘I got American Express on the phone. I need your information and we’ll get this card going’. We had already agreed to have both of our names would be on the card,” McCall said. But McCall later found out that he was the only name on the card and that another account had been opened in his name.
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McCall said that after researching the statements, he “discovered that what [Flockhart] had done is fabricated a document to look like an American Express statement but he had cut and pasted the line items to look how he wanted them to look.”
Fox13 reported that this isn’t the first time Flockhart has been accused of fraud. Flockhart is currently on probation for forging the names of church members at his previous church in Cherokee County, Georgia, to sign a property lease without their knowledge or consent.
ChurchLeaders has reached out to Flockhart via social media for comment and will update this article if we receive a response.
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