Two church leaders in Mount Olive are facing charges for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from their place of worship.
Stricjavvar Strickland, pastor at Galilee Missionary Baptist Church, and deacon Armond Barnes were charged with embezzlement in connection with nearly $90,000 in stolen church funds.
Strickland and Barnes turned themselves in to law enforcement on Tuesday, according to a report from WDAM. Strickland’s bond was set at $150,000, while Barnes’ was set at $75,000.
The local TV station spoke with Covington County Sheriff Darrell Perkins, who said the finance committee at Galilee Missionary approached his office in October about suspicions of embezzlement after spotting discrepancies in the church’s bank account.
Strickland, who was a pastor in Kalamazoo, Mich., before moving to Mississippi, was sentenced to a year in prison in January 2023 for paying teenage boys to engage in sex acts with his wife. Even after reaching a plea deal, he maintained his innocence and called the investigation a “witch-hunt and a lynching,” vouching that he pled guilty because it was what was best for his family.
