Church fraud is rampant locally, and all across the nation

Church fraud is rampant locally, and all across the nation

Fraud and corruption is rampant all across the nation

By Lynda Carson - July 1, 2026

Oakland, CA - As the people prepare to celebrate 250 years of horrific activities of the U.S.A, fraud and corruption is rampant in the convicted felon President Donald J. Trump’s White House, Congress, the Fraternal Order of Police, and our nation’s churches. In such grim times, people are wondering what what does it mean to be an American in an age of lies, deceit, and propaganda boldly spreading across the nation on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, according to reports recently, the Seventh Avenue Baptist Church in Oakland, near the corner of 8th Avenue and Foothill BLVD, has been ripped off of hundreds of thousands of dollars ($480 thousand in total) by 73 year old Eva Bowen Brown, of Hayward. This is the very same church that used to allow space in their basement to be used for voters to cast their ballots locally in that a neighborhood a number of years ago. This was before before the convicted felon Presidential Donald J. Trump tried to do ‘whatever is necessary’ to make it nearly impossible for Americans to cast their votes in the future.

Some headlines below may help to reveal how widespread fraud in churches are…

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Prosecutors Say Oakland Woman Cashed in Church Parking Lot for $480K.

PBS, Pope accepts resignation of U.S. bishop charged with embezzlement and money laundering.

WTOL, Toledo woman receives 40-month sentence in church theft case.

FOX 32 Chicago, Buffalo Grove pastor accused of $2M fraud scheme involving church investors.

The Roys Report, Former church employee faces federal charges in money embezzlement scheme.

WYFF, Woman embezzles more than $445k from local church; convicted of tax evasion.

WAVY.com, Man arrested in connection with church embezzlement in Mathews County.

North Country Now, Ogdensburg woman arrested in church fraud investigation.

Lake and McHenry County Scanner, Pastor at Buffalo Grove church facing federal charges for allegedly defrauding church members out of $2 million.

Christian Post, Former Chicago Church of Christ pastor accused of $2M fraud involving church members.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Federal charges filed against former Tulsa deacon in $1.5M church fraud case.

Daily Inter Lake, Eureka woman accused of stealing $150,000 from church.

News4JAX, Ex-church secretary must pay $20K to begin restitution efforts after deputies say she embezzled more than $570,000.

WGXA, Former Macon church leader arrested for $500K fraud scheme at Riverside United Methodist.

fox23.com, Former Tulsa church deacon, business manager charged in fraud case.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Missouri church employee accused of embezzling over $16K in fraudulent checks.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, El Cajon Chaldean bishop arrested at airport on embezzlement, money laundering charges.

WKBW, Former priest of Buffalo’s Greek Orthodox church charged with stealing funds.

MinistryWatch, Minnesota Pastors Charged With $2M Fraud.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, A former Upstate NY priest allegedly stole $450K meant for people in need.

fox56.com, Harding woman sentenced to prison for stealing $184k of church funds in wire fraud scheme.

KIMT, AG sues Minneapolis dance school and church founders over alleged $2M fraud.

WSB-TV, Woman accused of defrauding Georgia church for $500,000 as part of RICO investigation.

WBTV, Lincoln County church treasurer accused of embezzling $80K.

WAFF, Former Huntsville pastor sentenced for embezzling from church.

WGRZ, Hellenic Orthodox Priest accused of stealing $450K from Buffalo church.

KOAT, Church Theft: Former Albuquerque church treasurer indicted for $2M fraud, tax evasion.

WBMA, ’Betrayed his congregation': Alabama pastor sentenced after $400,000 church embezzlement.

That’s right. As the above headlines reveal, church fraud is rampant locally, and all across the nation.

Reportedly, on March 19, 2026, a Mercury News article in part says, “A woman who worked for an Oakland church secretly sold off its parking lot, prosecutors say in new charges alleging she stole as much as $480,000 from the congregation’s coffers.

Hayward resident Eva Bowen Brown, 73, is accused of committing fraud and grand theft by embezzlement during the years she served as financial secretary of the Seventh Avenue Baptist Church.

The Rev. Jeffrey Kirton fired Brown in 2023 after discovering the church’s bank accounts were overdrawn and that its funds were being misspent, according to the Alameda County District Attorney’s office.

Prosecutors in this case allege Brown stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in church offerings between 2019 and 2023, frequently making excuses to the congregation’s leadership for why she could not deliver written financial reports.

Brown, the sole keyholder of the church’s mailbox, would also intercept incoming mail in order to cover her tracks, the DA’s office said.

Property records indicate Brown carried out a $27,500 sale of the church parking lot to Comprehensive Care LP — the former business name of a local nursing facility, Bay Area Healthcare Center, which is located a few blocks away on 10th Avenue.”

Reportedly in July 2025, an article with Oaklandside in part said, “A former national leader of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court to defrauding congregations across California out of millions of dollars.

Over four years, Staccato Powell, a bishop of the AME Zion Church who was appointed in 2016 to lead the church’s Western Episcopal District, convinced congregations in Oakland, San Jose, Vallejo, Palo Alto, and Los Angeles to transfer deeds to their church properties to a private company he and an associate, Sheila Quintana, controlled.

The company then took out millions of dollars in high-interest loans, using the properties as collateral.

According to federal prosecutors, Powell and Quintana used the money to “personally enrich themselves.” In total, Powell and Quintana took in $14 million from the fraudulent loans, according to the indictment, led by United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian of the Northern District of California.”

Apparently crime pays, and in a plea deal former bishop Staccato Powell avoided going to prison. Additionally, per his plea agreement, Powell is contracted to pay between $3 million and just under $12.5 million in restitution.

His partner Sheila Quintana had agreed to pay $67,500 in restitution, and she got away with time served.

Meanwhile much worse than fraud, the local pedophile Catholic Priests have been very busy through the years. On Monday June 29, 2026, reportedly the San Francisco archdiocese agreed to a $395 million dollar settlement with 530 clergy abuse survivors.

Additionally, as recent as April 23, 2026, reportedly a jury awarded $16 million to a survivor who accused former Oakland priest Stephen Kiesle of abuse more than 50 years ago.

According to an April 23, SNAP release, in part it says, “A jury awarded a survivor of abuse by Stephen Kiesle, a defrocked Catholic priest of the Oakland (California) diocese, $16 million.

The abuse occurred in a blue-collar parish called Our Lady of the Rosary in Union City, California. That parish, with an elementary school, hosted at least three other priests accused of abuse, including George Crespin, who supervised Kiesle and was later elevated to be the Vicar General and Chancellor of the Oakland Diocese. Crespin is named in multiple lawsuits.

While no amount of money can ever recapture a lost childhood or make up for a lifetime of trauma, the court system has sent a message that covering up and enabling the sexual assault of children cannot be tolerated.

Kiesle has over 60 cases pending in the Oakland diocese bankruptcy, and dozens of other victims. He isn’t the only bad guy who wore the clerical collar and committed abuse. Oakland has over 100 others accused of abusing 290 other victims in this round of litigation, representing over $5 billion of harm, based on this award.

The Oakland bishop has low-balled, delayed, and stiff-armed victims for the past six years. His paltry $214 million bankruptcy offer is nowhere near enough to compensate for the harm an unbiased jury has recognized. At an average of $600,000 per survivor, that offer is 4% of the value of this jury award. It is pennies on the dollar.

Now that a jury has listened to the evidence and spoken, SNAP is calling on the bishop of Oakland to either dramatically increase his offer, or, to exit bankruptcy and try all 350 cases.” 
Lynda Carson may be reached at newzland2 [at] gmail.com

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