Marcus Eichelberger was arrested April 14 and pleaded not guilty to all four federal wire fraud charges he faces, each of which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years.<\/p>\n
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A former Jacksonville pastor faces federal\u00a0wire fraud charges<\/a> accusing him of helping a congregant bilk a pandemic-era government relief program out of $50,000 through bogus loans.<\/p>\n Marcus Eichelberger, listed in a\u00a0LinkedIn profile<\/a> as a co-pastor since 2017 at\u00a0Cathedral of Deliverance<\/a> at 1939 Belvedere St., was\u00a0indicted<\/a> in November but the case was sealed, keeping it out of public view for months.<\/p>\n Eichelberger was arrested April 14 and pleaded\u00a0not guilty to all four counts<\/a>, each of which can carry a prison sentence as long as 20 years.<\/p>\n Now unsealed, court files were updated April 15 with a notice from prosecutors<\/a> that Eichelberger\u2019s case may be related to charges against two other people who got money through the U.S. Small Business Administration\u2019s Paycheck Protection Program during the Covid pandemic\u2019s recessionary business disruptions.<\/p>\n The defendant in one of the related cases, Talia McIntyre,\u00a0pleaded guilty<\/a> in February to aiding and abetting wire fraud and is apparently the unnamed person listed in Eichelberger\u2019s indictment as \u201cWitness-1.\u201d<\/p>\n The indictment says Eichelberger approached her and convinced her in 2021 to file forms saying she had a non-existent catering business and to withdraw $49,999 to meet her payroll obligations.<\/p>\n The money was formally a loan but was forgivable as long as it was used for true business purposes, but a plea agreement McIntyre signed said she never did any catering.<\/p>\n The agreement quoted texts between her and the unnamed minister, whom the agreement said instructed McIntyre to send him a part of the payments.<\/p>\n \u201cUse the money wisely and don\u2019t spend most of it on others!! LOL,\u201d the agreement quoted a text from the minister named only as “Individual-1.”<\/p>\n “Spending it on yourself is ABSOLUTELY ACCEPTABLE\u2026\u201d, the plea agreement quoted Individual-1\u2019s text.<\/p>\n The agreement said McIntyre ultimately transferred $19,000 to Individual-1 and used the rest to pay her credit card and get cash withdrawals.<\/p>\n A notice from prosecutors lists Eichelberger as a “potential co-defendant” in the other related case,\u00a0an indictment filed April 8<\/a> charging Justin Burns with aiding and abetting separate instances of wire fraud.<\/p>\n That indictment says Burns was approached by a pastor in 2020 about applying to SBA for help from its\u00a0Economic Injury Disaster Loan<\/a> (EIDL) for business owners, although he didn’t own a state-licensed business.<\/p>\n Burns didn’t own a state-licensed business but ended up getting $130,000 from SBA in two loans, says the indictment, which says Burns went along with directions from a pastor labeled Person-1 and filled out an SBA loan application online. Burns and Person-1 each got a share of the cash, the indictment says.<\/p>\n