Posted on 12/09/2021 8:35:49 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
The plumber who accidentally recovered missing money in Joel Osteen's megachurch has been rewarded for his good deed.
In November, a large quantity of money was found in a bathroom at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. The plumber who made the discovery, known only as Justin, spoke publicly in early December, stating that he was fixing the wall behind a toilet when approximately 500 envelopes of cash and cheques fell out.
"There was a loose toilet in the wall and we removed the tile," Justin told Houston's 100.3 fm. "Went to go remove the toilet and I moved some insulation away and about 500 envelopes fell out of the wall, and I was like, 'Oh wow'."
According to the Houston Police, the money is thought to be connected to a 2014 theft, wherein $600,000 of contributions were stolen from the megachurch.
As CNN reports, Lakewood Church made a donation of $20,000 to Houston Crime Stoppers, which the organization then gave to Justin, because "he is the rightful holder of that gift."
"He's a good Samaritan," they added. "He did the right thing."
Houston Crime Stoppers CEO Rania Mankarious said Justin was very quiet upon receiving the money, but thanked the organization for their gift, saying that their gift would "go a really long way" in these tough times.
Good on Lakewood Church. That’s the right thing to do.
Aw, come on, Joel. A finder’s fee should be at least 10%. And it’s not like you can’t afford it.
I don’t get it.
Thieves steal over a half a mil.
Take the time to seal it in a wall and then leave it ther
Joel needs more money.
The dates on the checks should give a pretty big clue as to when it happened.
I know of a church in Dallas where they found a deposit bag above the ceiling tiles in the men’s room. All the cash was gone but the checks were still there. Needless to say, reasonable proceedures were put in place to prevent a recurrance. (Due to demographics, cash is a negligible fraction of contributions).
Understand that Lakewood Church donated the 20K as a reward several years ago. Technically, they did not reward the plumber, but they are the source of the funds that did ultimately reward him.
They may have been waiting for things to calm down, or they have been arrested for something else and couldn’t get to it yet. There s a number of reasons why it coild,could, happened, maybe the their died, or is on the run,?
One of my buddies redid the interior of his old house. He hid cans in the walls with money...with a paper that said 1 of 3, 2 of 3 and 3 of 3. Except he only hid 2 cans. Love that guy.
I'm sure they will be looking for DNA and prints....and they will solve it. After all....they had to do something to get it into the wall to start with.
Not a bad place to hide the loot. Obviously an inside job, and those theives would be under close watch. The police would never search the church for the money, but would search their homes. Video cameras of the thieves exiting would show them leaving empty handed. Surprised they never got back to pick up the loot.
An inside job... imho, complete with the “victim” un-taxed church putting up a recovery reward. A farce in other words.
A religious house of cards, with a real huckster at the head of it.
There is history— as to whom exactly walled up the collection plate takings and allowed them to be called “stolen”.
It wise to check things out behind walls, and thus the man is flush with cash.
The money was reported stolen, covered by insurance, yet never left the property.
“the money is thought to be connected to a 2014 theft, wherein $600,000 of contributions were stolen from the megachurch”
Stolen or embezzled? What kind of thief steals money from a church and then hides it INSIDE the church?
Right... it’s almost as if the “thief” knew they could come back and get that money out of the wall any time they wanted it.
I saw Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland in a bar, laughing their asses off at the stupid people who give them money.
It always amazes me to learn that some trusted employee, who is also considered part of the family by the owners steals hundreds of thousands over a period of years and the embezzlement is accidentally discovered
Righteous Gemstones plot
Wow! It works!!
Plumbing his best life ™️
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