A jury in St. Louis took about an hour to convict a former visiting pastor on all twenty counts, in a case the government built on roughly forty pandemic loans taken out in the names of his parishioners
About forty loans. That is the number the government put at the centre of a trial that started on Monday and ended on Wednesday with a conviction on every count charged.
Kenneth C. Sparks III, 56, was found guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, six counts of wire fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft and ten counts of money laundering. Jurors deliberated for about an hour.
The account of the schemes is the department's, drawn from what it says the evidence and testimony at trial showed. Sparks was invited to Faith Walk Ministry in Paris, Missouri, to preach for three days, and stayed three years. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman told jurors in closing argument that he used the church, its employees and its parishioners to run a "full-time fraud operation," and that Sparks presented himself as a prophet and an apostle whose word could not be questioned.
Where the money went
The pandemic side of the case ran to about forty Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection Program applications, according to trial testimony from IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent Aaron Joifrita, who put the total obtained in the names of parishioners and church employees at $1.2 million.
Just over $1 million of that reached Sparks, on the department's figures. It breaks down as $313,000 in checks he wrote to himself, $172,000 taken as cash withdrawals or advances, $168,000 spent at luxury retailers, $127,000 on real estate and $47,000 on jewellery, including a diamond-studded Rolex watch.
A second scheme, described in the release as using many of the same methods, took out $685,000 in personal and auto loans in his name and the names of others.
The two come to about $1.9 million on the department's own figures. Wiseman told the jury that Sparks "impersonated God himself in order to steal millions of dollars in public funds during the worst days of the pandemic."
The mechanics the prosecution described
What the government says it proved is a paperwork operation rather than a hacking one. Parishioners were asked for personal and bank account information, which was then used to apply for more loans. They were told the information would be used to fix their credit or to obtain grants to build a megachurch.
They were directed to open accounts at a credit union to receive the money, and to sign blank cheques. Two co-conspirators from outside the church supplied false tax and employment documents, and the applications themselves were filled out by church employees. Parishioners were given scripts to use if a bank asked them about the loans.
Ten other defendants have either pleaded guilty or accepted responsibility in the case. None is named in the release.
The Postal Inspection Service and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated. Wiseman and Assistant U.S. Attorney Karin Schute are prosecuting. The case is listed under the National Fraud Enforcement Division, which the department says it created on April 7.
Sentencing is set for December 1.
