![\"<div>Stephen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/wtvt_fox_local_articles_521\/6add21b1492145e546e19b7ba6704356.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nThe Brief<\/p>\n
A Tampa man accused of defrauding a South Tampa church out of nearly $675,000 is facing new criminal charges after investigators say he forged court documents and lied about his pending case while applying for a job.<\/p>\n
Authorities say Stephen Halford told a prospective employer that his church fraud case had been dismissed and allegedly forged a judge’s signature on a fake document to support the claim.<\/p>\n
A judge revoked Halford’s bond on the original church fraud charges during a court hearing Wednesday.<\/p>\n
TAMPA, Fla. – A man already accused of defrauding a South Tampa church out of hundreds of thousands of dollars is back behind bars after investigators say he forged a judge’s signature and created fake documents to try to secure a new job.<\/p>\n
Stephen Halford appeared in Hillsborough County Court Thursday following his latest arrest. Prosecutors say the new allegations stem from actions he took while applying for a position with a construction company in Pasco County.<\/p>\n
Tampa fraud investigation<\/p>\n
What we know<\/p>\n
According to an arrest report, Halford was seeking employment with a Pasco County construction company when a background check revealed information about his previous arrest. He was charged last year in connection with an alleged scheme involving Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in South Tampa.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stephen Halford in court.<\/p>\n
Investigators accused him of collecting nearly $675,000 for construction work that was never completed by using forged or fraudulent invoices. Authorities said Halford was later released on bond while that case remained pending.<\/p>\n
Investigators now allege Halford falsely told the prospective employer that the church fraud case had been dismissed. They say he provided a fraudulent document that included a forged judge’s signature in an attempt to support his claim.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors also allege Halford created fake text messages that appeared to come from his attorney to convince the company that the pending criminal charges were no longer an issue.<\/p>\n
Hillsborough legal actions<\/p>\n
What they’re saying<\/p>\n
Hillsborough State Attorney Suzy Lopez said the actions alleged in the new case went beyond dishonesty and amounted to criminal conduct.<\/p>\n
“He has committed the wrong crime, and he’s certainly committed it in the wrong jurisdiction. And so he’s going to have to pay for those crimes,” Lopez said.<\/p>\n
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Court bond revocation<\/p>\n
What’s next<\/p>\n
During Wednesday’s hearing, a judge revoked Halford’s bond on the original charges connected to the alleged church fraud case.<\/p>\n
Halford remains in custody as he faces both the original fraud allegations and the new charges related to the alleged forged court documents and fabricated communications.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
The Source<\/p>\n
Information for this story comes from court proceedings, arrest records, and statements from Hillsborough State Attorney Suzy Lopez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief A Tampa man accused of defrauding a South Tampa church out of nearly $675,000 is facing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[98468,39822,138108,2785,138107,585,138106,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-335251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-fraud-case","tag-hillsborough-county-court","tag-holy-trinity-lutheran-church","tag-judge","tag-prospective-employer","tag-south-tampa","tag-stephen-halford","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}