{"id":72928,"date":"2025-12-17T02:37:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T02:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/72928\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T02:37:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T02:37:05","slug":"brooklyn-pastor-admits-he-embezzled-3-million-from-church-daycare-fund-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/72928\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn pastor admits he embezzled $3 million from church daycare fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Brooklyn pastor<\/a> pleaded guilty Tuesday to embezzling $3 million over seven years from a day care associated with his church.<\/p>\n

The Rev. Paul Mitchell, 60, admitted in federal court that he broke the Eighth Commandment \u2014 \u201cThou shall not steal\u201d \u2014while leading East New York\u2019s Changing Lives Christian Center.<\/a><\/p>\n

Prosecutors accused the pastor of pocketing money intended for the supervision and personal development of young people in the church\u2019s care. Officials said he even used the embezzled funds to purchase his fianc\u00e9e\u2019s engagement ring.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant treated his organizations\u2019 accounts as his own personal piggy bank, stealing millions of dollars and betraying the trust of his congregation and those dependent on the services provided to the community,\u201d U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella<\/a> said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur office will always be vigilant in protecting houses of worship from criminality that threatens the important work they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nocella said that between 2015 and 2022, Mitchell was using credit cards from both the church and the day care to pay for his personal expenses, including clothing, jewelry, luxury accessories and life insurance premiums.<\/p>\n

Among the luxury items he bought with church and day care money was a $795 watch purchased in 2015, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

More than a year later, he used the same source of funds to buy a smoky quartz and diamond men\u2019s ring that cost just more than $1,000, the documents said<\/p>\n

In 2018, prosecutors said, Mitchell also used the same accounts to buy a diamond engagement ring retailing at more than $6,100.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made personal purchases with the entities\u2019 resources,\u201d Mitchell said in his plea. \u201cI acted willfully.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Mitchell, who lives in West Hempstead, L.I., also wrote checks from the church\u2019s bank account and the day care\u2019s bank account to transfer money into his own accounts, and failed to report any income from those transfers on his personal income tax returns.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul Mitchell was trusted by his parishioners to use their donations for good, not to fatten his wallet,\u201d IRS-Criminal Investigation New York Special Agent in Charge Harry Chavis said. \u201cHis deceit was at many levels, as he also evaded paying millions in tax revenue that benefits the good of all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell was released on his own recognizance, and will surrender his passport and guns, officials said.<\/p>\n

Mitchell was among the clergy counseling Mayor Adams<\/a> in the months after Adams was hit with federal corruption charges, even leading a prayer vigil to uplift the mayor and show support.<\/p>\n

Mitchell faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison as well as restitution and monetary penalties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Brooklyn pastor pleaded guilty Tuesday to embezzling $3 million over seven years from a day care associated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[12655,98,100,99,325,9,24,63,37042,37043],"class_list":["post-72928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-bank-account","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-day-care","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-paul-mitchell","tag-personal-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}