Pastor Sells Church - Gets 18 Months In Prison

[matcom]

<snip>

MANTECA, Calif. --A pastor accused of selling the town's oldest church pleaded guilty to embezzlement on Monday and agreed to 18 months in prison, court officials said.

Randall Radic, 53, entered his plea as part of a deal in which prosecutors agreed to drop nine other charges.

Radic had preached at First Congregational Church in Ripon for nearly a decade before he sold the church last October for $525,000, allegedly using the money to buy a BMW. He also faked documents that gave him possession of his house, which was owned by the church, then used the property to take out loans, authorities said.

Before the plea deal, Radic had faced up to nine years in prison for 10 counts, including two counts of theft by embezzlement, two counts of obtaining property by false pretenses, four counts of forgery of signature and two counts of presenting a fraudulent document.

Radic's attorney Michael Babitzke declined to comment on the case Monday.

Radic remains in San Joaquin County Jail on $750,000 bail. He was scheduled to appear for a formal sentencing and restitution hearing on March 16.

http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2006/01/30/pastor_gets_18_months_for_selling_church?mode=PF

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. Did he really think he was going to get away with that....

...and I don't know how I would feel seeing Father Tim drive around in a BMW.

(Father Tim being the pastor of the last church I attended)

[mikeytherat]

3. My old pastor drove a BMW - a 1972 2002 (just like my '73)

We had lots of talks about keeping the little beasties running!

mikey_the_rat

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. We have a 93 Jaguar...but we didn't buy it all spanky new.

And everything on it is too damned expensive to fix, so she sits in the garage and looks pretty. :hi:

[mikeytherat]

5. I've got three BMWs -- all purchased "well used"

I keep them because they are really, really safe (two of them have been crash-tested and came up spades). My wife was t-boned at 50+ mph and walked away without a scratch, not even any sore muscles! That one, our '88 735i (the last year you could get a manual-transmission 7-series here in the USA) was "totaled" (it's only worth about $7K), but the damage was easily repairable (two doors, quarter panel, strut, and a little bit of work to even out the dash (pushed in slightly, but not bent), and most of the glass. I bought it back from the ins. co, fixed it, and within a month, it was back on the road, rockin' and a-rollin'!

mikey_the_rat

[KitchenWitch]

2. Wow

Just wow!