Joel Osteen’s church robbed of $600K in cash, checks
FoxNews.com
FoxNews.com
Televangelist Joel Osteen's church in Houston announced Monday that $600,000 in Sunday donations were stolen from its safe last weekend, MyFoxHouston.com reported.
The heist at Lakewood Church wasn't discovered until 8:30 a.m. Monday morning when a church employee and off-duty Harris County Sheriff's Officer noticed the break in, the report said. Investigators believe the theft occurred sometime between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning.
The donations were from services on March 8 and March 9 and included cash, checks and credit cards. Lakewood has asked anyone who attended services this weekend to pay attention to their accounts and report any suspicious activity.
"The funds were fully insured, and we are working with our insurance company to restore the stolen funds to the church," the Lakewood statement said, according to The Houston Chronicle.
Lakewood stresses this was not a data breach, but says the theft was limited to donations made in the actual services.
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Mega-churches aren't big on the law, so no wonder they
suffered a heist--probably an insider job. Of course the cash
is untraceable since the serial numbers weren't recorded. The
offerings were from the weekend when the banks aren't open,
and I suppose $600K in small offerings is too many bags to
put into a night deposit, so they'd need an armored car pickup
during the weekday. Perhaps their safe was stolen or drilled
open? I wouldn't be surprised if they used laser drills for quiet drilling.
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GJ - Old principle - never leave the offering at church. That was obviously standard procedure and a great way to motivate a robbery.
One church I served wanted to leave the funds at the church or parsonage, even after two robberies. I said - No!