#7 - Kenneth Glasgow Reverend Kenneth Glasgow was
charged with capital murder for his involvement in the fatal shooting of a 23-year-old woman. The
half-brother of the famous Reverend Al Sharpton, Glasgow was a well-known human rights activist
credited with founding a nonprofit organization called The Ordinary People’s Society. On the night
of March the 25th of 2018, Glasgow had reportedly driven an acquaintance of his named Jamie Townes
around the city of Dothan, Alabama, as he searched for his stolen car. The two men ultimately tracked
the car down and discovered that it had been taken by Breunia Jennings. Townes fired multiple
gunshots at Jennings, who was sitting in the driver’s seat of the stolen vehicle.
She suffered fatal injuries, while Townes and Glasgow subsequently fled the scene. Even though
it was Townes who’d pulled the trigger, Glasgow was also hit with capital murder charges. Alabama
law imputes charges to individuals found to have aided or abetted in the execution of a crime.
While Glasgow awaited his murder case’s final determination in court, he was arrested again
following a traffic stop in which he was found to be in possession of cocaine. The pastor allegedly
tried to swallow a packet of illegal substances in order to conceal them from the policeman
who’d pulled him over. As the officer attempted to remove the bag from the reverend’s mouth,
Glasgow bit down on his fingers. He was charged with possessing a controlled substance, assault
and tampering with evidence. In February of 2021, a grand jury ruled that there was insufficient
evidence to convict Glasgow of capital murder, and those charges were dropped while his other
offenses were still pending in court. #6 - David Love
The pastor at New Hope Baptist Church in Independence, Missouri, murdered his best friend
in cold blood in order to hide his decade-long love affair with the victim’s wife. Pastor David
Love and his mistress, Teresa Stone, came up with a plot to kill each other’s spouses and run away
together with the life insurance money they’d subsequently collect. On March the 31st of 2010,
they set their plan in motion. Love fatally shot Stone’s husband, Randy, in the insurance office
where the man worked. The victim had been the pastor’s best friend and a longtime member of
his church’s congregation. Love even went on to deliver an emotional eulogy at Randy’s funeral.
The next step of the scheme involved Love breaking his own wife’s neck and staging a car accident to
conceal the murder. Before he had the chance to commit a second murder, however, investigators
began piecing together the details behind Randy’s death. They ultimately landed on Love and Stone
as the likely culprits. Police uncovered the fact that Stone had recently suffered
a miscarriage despite her husband having undergone a vasectomy many years prior. They deduced that
Stone was having an affair and that she’d called on her lover to help to eliminate her husband.
Stone eventually confessed to her extramarital activities and revealed that it had been Love
who’d killed her husband of 19 years. The pastor maintained his innocence, but after the evidence
against him became indisputable, he was charged with first-degree murder. In November of 2011,
he avoided the death penalty by taking a plea deal that reduced the charges down to second-degree
murder. He was sentenced to life in prison, while Stone was sentenced to 8 years after pleading
guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit murder. #5 - Kenneth Copeland
One of the most popular televangelists in the world publicly declared that he could cure
his followers of COVID-19 and put an end to the pandemic altogether. He also encouraged viewers
to continue paying tithes to his Fort Worth megachurch even in the face of the economic crisis
brought on by the outbreak. Kenneth Copeland is one of the most famous champions of the prosperity
gospel, which supports the notion that God bestows material wealth upon those who are faithful in
giving their money to the church. Copeland’s net worth is estimated to be upwards of $300 million,
largely as a result of the proceeds earned by his international ministry. He has long been
criticized for his perceived misuse of church donations, having relied on his ministry’s funds
to purchase luxury mansions, private jets, and other personal indulgences. He faced further
derision due to his behavior during the initial onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a televised
sermon on March the 11th of 2020, Copeland told viewers to place their hands on their television
sets so that he could permanently heal them of the disease. On March the 29th, Copeland claimed that
he had “executed judgment” on COVID-19, and that the pandemic would come to an end as a result.
During a sermon in April, in a video that was ridiculed online, he blew air out of his mouth
in the direction of the camera, claiming to have blown the wind of God at the coronavirus.
Copeland opened himself up to further criticism as he’d also told members of his church who’d
lost their jobs to continue paying their weekly tithe. Copeland’s response to the pandemic was
widely mocked, with many finding his statements dangerous, irresponsible and to be minimizing the
seriousness of the illness. #4 - Jacob Malone
37-year-old Jacob Malone was accused of orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot while he was
still incarcerated for a previous crime. Malone formerly served as the youth pastor at Calvary
Fellowship Church in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. He eventually resigned from his position in
November of 2015 after allegations had surfaced that Malone had abused a young woman who’d come to
live with him and his wife. Church leaders learned of the assault, which had resulted in the victim
getting pregnant, and Malone was consequently forced to step down. He pleaded guilty to the
offense in 2017 and was sentenced to three to six years in prison by Judge Jacqueline Cody.
While serving out his term, Malone reportedly asked fellow inmate Angelo Tomeo to murder both
Judge Cody and the head pastor at Fellowship Calvary, Harold Lee, who’d been a key witness in
Malone’s conviction. In exchange for carrying out the killings, Malone offered Tomeo over
$5,000 but the latter turned him down and reported his proposal to detectives. Two months later,
the former youth pastor approached yet another inmate with a similar proposition,
but was rejected once again. When investigators followed up on and confirmed Tomeo’s claims about
his former cellmate, Malone was ultimately charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, and
terroristic threats. #3 - Frederick Smith
A pastor from Memphis, Tennessee, was arrested on felony theft charges after stealing the identity
of a 77-year-old member of his church and using it to commit credit card fraud. The inception of
Pastor Frederick Smith’s scam dated back to May of 2015. Smith had asked Clevie Williams,
a founding member of the New Life Holiness Church congregation, to serve as a prayer leader on the
church’s Mother Board. Williams was honored by Smith’s request and enthusiastically accepted it,
but the decision swiftly proved to be ill-fated. Smith claimed that he would
need certain pieces of personal information from Williams in order to make her position official.
He subsequently obtained her social security number, driver’s license and information
from one of her utility bills. Not long after giving this sensitive information to the pastor
Williams began receiving credit card invoices showing charges between $10,000 and $60,000.
She hadn’t any knowledge of the purchases detailed on the statements,
nor had she applied for the credit cards being used in the first place. Williams confronted
Smith over the fraudulent charges, and her pastor admitted to signing up for the credit cards by
using the personal information he’d collected from the elderly woman. He was taken into custody by
Memphis police but later released. Smith failed to show up to his scheduled court appearance
the day following his release and instead took to Facebook to declare his innocence.
It was reported that Smith also committed a traffic infraction while awaiting his
day in court. The vehicle he was driving at the time had been registered under Clevie Williams’
address. Smith was ultimately indicted on charges of felony theft and identity theft.
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#2 - Barry Minkow After masterminding one of the
largest Ponzi schemes in history, Barry Minkow became a born-again Christian, while serving
out his 25-year prison sentence. As a result of his good behavior and apparent rehabilitation,
he was granted an early release after just 7 years served. During his incarceration, Minkow had
become heavily involved in the prison’s Christian ministry and had even taken biblical classes at
Liberty University’s School of Lifelong Learning. Upon his release, in 1995, he became the Pastor of
Evangelism at a church in Chatsworth, California, also serving as the director of the church’s
Bible Institute. Two years later, Minkow was appointed as the head pastor at Community Bible
Church in San Diego. In addition to his pastoral efforts, the infamous former convict also operated
a for-profit investigative firm called the Fraud Discovery Institute, which worked to expose
pyramid schemes and other forms of financial fraud. In an ironic twist, in March of 2011,
Minkow pleaded guilty to insider trading in connection with his fraud discovery business
and was sentenced to go back to prison for 5 years. Around the time of his second conviction,
rumors began circulating that Minkow had been defrauding members of his own church for some
time. One elderly woman from the Community Bible Church claimed that the pastor had swindled her
out of $300,000. A widower told investigators that Minkow had stolen $75,000 from him after claiming
he would donate the money to a hospital in Sudan. Instead, Minkow directed much of the money given
to the church towards helping to finance a movie about his life. He was sentenced to an additional
5 years as a result of his church-related scams. Minkow was ultimately released in June of 2019.
#1 - Matthew Phelps Matthew Phelps of North Carolina
was working towards becoming a full-time pastor, having studied missions and evangelism at Clear
Creek Baptist Bible College, in Kentucky. On September the 1st of 2017, however,
his plans for the future came to an abrupt end as he was arrested for the brutal murder of his wife,
29-year old Lauren. The aspiring pastor had placed a call to 9-1-1 in the middle of the night,
claiming that he had awoken to find his wife dead on the bedroom floor. He told the operator that
there was a bloody knife on the bed and that he believed it was he himself who had carried out
the fatal stabbing. Phelps admitted to taking Coricidin cough and cold medicine to help him
sleep, but had reportedly ingested far more than the recommended dosage that night. He later told
police that it was his medicine-induced stupor that caused him to unknowingly kill his wife.
After initially pleading not guilty, Phelps ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree
murder and was sentenced to spend the remainder of his life behind bars. Although Phelps blamed
his wife’s death on his own abuse of Coricidin, it was discovered in the case’s legal proceedings
that the couple’s marriage had been fraught with rising tensions leading up to the incident. Phelps
was allegedly spending more money than they could afford to lose, and Lauren had consequently made
plans to leave him. Additionally, it was revealed in court that Phelps had developed an obsession
with the 2000 film American Psycho, which centers on a narcissistic man who is secretly
a serial killer. Phelps had also expressed to a friend that he was curious what it would feel
like to kill someone. The victim’s autopsy indicated that she’d been stabbed a total of
123 times, including 44 cuts to her face and neck. Thanks for watching! Would you rather have to
attend a 2-hour church service every day of the week or have to brush your teeth
once every hour you’re awake? Let us know in the comments section below.