Jackson Jambalaya

This is a religious institution, just imagine how bad it is in government. The people of Mississippi are being financially raped every single day, and it's because there is no State Attorney on point, and not one single leader willing to go after the culprits with a vengeance.....

But if you have divorced or "consume" alcohol, you are excluded from leadership!

Hey... 5:15... get a grip.

Epps is serving a pretty long sentence. Pickering perp walks folks almost weekly.

Back up your wild-ass assertions with facts or stow it.

So the guy gives himself a $160,000 a year raise illegally, and they are only going to report him for not paying taxes. Give to Caesar...

I see on Facebook he just posted 'he left' his job at Broadmoor. He'll do it again or something similar to someone else. And it is sickening to see his club soccer child pics thinking some parishioners gave to the church while their children probably played rec league. You can't say he stole from the church, he stole from the people.

6:14, he stole from the Lord.

If you steal a Twinkie at Kroger the "proper balance" is called shoplifting and many end up in jail. There is no deterrent to white collar crime. Even if they somehow actually get charged and get a tough judge they will usually get a suspended sentence or at most serve a only a few months or a few years in some halfway house setting. Our society sets an example there is nothing wrong with stealing as long as you steal enough.

☝🏽That’s it.

6:49...unless you are Bernie and piss off the Ny AG.

They only had to arrest Gina Palisini three times before she went to jail....because her dad was a bigshot Rankin preacher.

But she's in jail now. Third time's a charm for justice. Just Google Gina Palasini Southern Baptist.

@ 5:37....5:15 is correct. lookat Dr Carey Wright and the DOE contracts. Enough? Check out any state agency and you will find corruption.

They will not press charges? Why not? He will just do it again somewhere else. What a total lack of responsibility to the church.

Showing grace to one person and not showing it to all the folks who might hire him one day. That’s horrible. They sure have “public face of grace” down pat.

I just can't wait for the "biblical this" and "biblical that" rationalizations to let the criminal ease on down the road with no consequences. Meanwhile, the family making sacrifices to fulfill their pledge or the unknowing church ready to make a new hire suffer the true consequences. It's all about money, especially the Broadmoor future income stream, and the church will never take a proactive stand and assist the DA in prosecuting this criminal. Bad publicity, as every good corporation knows, harms future profits. Broadmoor, true to form, will hide behind Jesus to avoid bad publicity all while claiming to teach people the "right way to live". Believe in Jesus, the Lord will Provide! Apparently better for some than others.

how dare you people say bad things about riley . he's a good christian man, he was just "borrowing" that money , and he was eventually gonna put it back, but he just never got around to it..............you people don't know much about how the mind of an embezzler works , do you?

"Well let's get us a buncha rocks together and stone 'em!!"

-Jerry Clower

7:44

Not her Dad but her brother is the "$$" head preacher

I always wondered how many Pinelakers were begging her to
invest their money or how much "church" money she "invested"
and lost !

5:15, 5:57 You both seem to assume that groups of people can be more prone to corruption...that if churches have a problem, then government has a worse problem.
When any organization assumes their members/ employees are less likely to steal, they are more vulnerable, not less vulnerable because they fail to implement safeguards. They make it easier to steal.
Humans are humans and a functioning organization will remove temptation and make it harder for human flaws ( the 7 deadly sins are a pretty good list to go by) to flourish.
That is why a society needs rules and regulations and security measures.
Even in your home, if you leave your money and valuables, drugs and gun out in plain view bad things can happen.
Judge people by their actions over a long period, by what they do, not what they say and not by the group to which they belong or else you are naïve " mark".
The bigger a group gets, the more attractive it becomes for predators and thieves because, unlike you, they know they can more easily fool you as you'll have less chance to observe individual behavior. And, they have more chance to succeed if they can limit and control individual contact.

So if someone broke into the church and stole $200,000 out of a safe, would they refuse to press charges?

Congratulations, Kingfish, for getting this story out there yesterday morning, which apparently prompted the Clarion Ledger to "investigate", which in turn apparently resulted in this statement from the church. If not for you, this would probably have been swept under the rug and kept quite as the church apparently wished.

It seems there are many folks named anonymous who are willing to chime in.

Sandra Burns, this is yet another Anonymous chiming in.

8:15 is correct. If he did this, shame on him. However, the bigger shame goes on the church and its apparent lack of oversight and controls to allow this much money to be embezzled in just 27 months. ($332,000 divided by 27 months is $12,300 per month embezzled. That's a lot of money each month to go missing and not be seen.)

All you have to do is Google the guys name to find his linkedin resume that includes a previous job as a "Tax Intern" at LDDS WorldCom in its final year. Talk about hiring someone with "poor communication skills"....

I for one am saddened by the entire thing. Surely something good can come out of this, but am saddened for his family, wife, kids, etc. who probably had no clue and church members who placed their trust in him.

Grace and forgiveness has a part in this, naturally. Christ tells us to give those freely. However, I think this should have been prosecuted as well. Do they care what I think? No, I wouldn't expect them to.

The new controls they've put into place should have been in place to start with, especially at a large church like that. I learned in banking many years ago, trust no one. Bitter? Jaded? Yes, but the ones always caught stealing then were the ones who you'd think were least likely. Watch your back is a good phrase. Was anyone watching the church's back with the tithes/treasury, books?

Learning lesson--yes. Stone him? No. Grace and forgiveness, yes. Prosecute ---for that amount, I would have. Does it really matter if it was $100 or $332,000? Stealing is stealing, you can't sugar coat it. I wonder how the church members feel. If I had to guess, I'd say some would be happy with the way it was handled and others will leave and go to other churches.

Terrible lesson for our kids, young adults, etc. in the church. Commit a crime and no consequences? Or is the lesson grace and forgiveness? What a tangled mess. No matter what, lots of people are hurt by this man's foolishness. I feel especially bad for his kids and wife if she didn't know.

That’s one heck of a pay increase to go unnoticed. I would think somebody else might be involved over 27 months...poor accounting safeguards in place

Does the Board not see monthly or quarterly financial statements in a church setting? I have served on many not for profit Boards, but not at a church, so I do not know. It would be apparent if the statements show accruals and are compared to an approved budget.

For those wondering what an "executive pastor/preacher" is, from my experience as a PK in this part of the country, these are usually the guys who oversee operations/business in large church, including financial matters. This would have made it relatively easy for him to do this without getting caught for a least a while, but if he had any brains he would have had to have known that he would be caught and should have moved along before it happened. Apparently he had enough ego to think he wouldn't/couldn't be caught. Imagine that, a preacher with an ego. Whoda thunk it? (Yes, I'm being sarcastic, VERY sarcastic.)

"Mistakes were made." It's been a bad year for "Faith Based" criminals here in Mississippi.

AMEN 10:20.

I put most preachers in the same category as a used car salesperson.

ELMER GANTRY LIVES ON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Large wealthy churches, the last refuge for the true scoundrel

Yes, his LinkedIn profile (complete with his big smiling mug) says he's "Seeking a New Start." No doubt he is, but I don't think I would've posted that. I reckon he thought everything was going to be kept confidential and he was only going to have some tax exposure, but the fat's in the fire now.

You mean Sarah Fowler ripped me off yet again?

Yet couldn't cover that story in Columbus despite the fact she used to work at the Packet.

10:33

A BIG AMEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will bet the $330,000 that the church not pursuing charges has less to do with Grace and more to do with the fact that this was the Senior Pastors college buddy and service club little brother from college (in Mississippi College speak, service clubs are their versions of fraternities). Look at the staff, the majority are long time family friends of the senior pastor and/or connections to prominent Mississippi baptist families. Nepotism is alive and well at most Baptist churches. This level of nepotism can easily lead to too few safeguards and too much trust in one individual. This individual also has family ties to another prominent Baptist preacher from north Mississippi. Good ole boy system is alive and well.

I am also proud of the Clarion Ledger for their ground breaking coverage of this story. That must have taken some experienced investigative journalism to visit this website and then call the church for the statement. I can see Sarah now " Sam, I have a reliable source that Broadmoor has had embezzelment. Can I cover it?" Sam: "Double check Jackson Jambalaya first for accuracy."

i would love to be in the same room with mr riley when he finds out he has state and federal tax liability on the money he embezzled. i can hear him screaming now......."you cant tax me on that money, i stole that money" !!!!!!!!!!!!

Too bad the Baptists don't have some old-fashioned Jesuits to assist them in framing a good damage-control argument....

I wonder what they would do if someone stole a church van? They aren't worth 335,000...

Vann Leonard is locked up and probably will die in prison for taking similar amount. Lots of people in MS prison for much less theft. Will be interesting to see this play out.

I believe "ordained" ministers are designated to receive some legal advantage when it comes to taxation... it allows a sense of 'double-dipping' -- which the ordinary sinner doesn't get. And that's for the good ones... not sure how this fellow will come out.

You are correct, Anon. 1:31, there are special tax breaks for ministers who meet certain criteria, the first of which is that they be licensed or ordained. Beyond that I couldn't say much about how it works.

I've heard that some ministers also get some dipping in with members of their congregations. Dipping of all flavors for the chosen few!

Interesting, October 26, 2017 at 9:32 AM: "All you have to do is Google the guys name to find his linkedin resume that includes a previous job as a "Tax Intern" at LDDS WorldCom in its final year. Talk about hiring someone with "poor communication skills"...."
Maybe they should reopen the case against Ebbers. Free Bernie!

And yes, CL ripoff team Sam R. Hall / Sarah Fowler. Have they no shame?

a con artist is the most unreformable criminal there is. worse that pedophiles. the con follows them every where they go.

Seems like to me the church isn't going to miss the money so why should the congregation donate? I'd bet several others have had the same thoughts.

There is a rental allowance/fair market value allowance (originally came from days when most churches provided housing for pastors) and they have an option to opt OUT of social security/Medicare taxes based on a religious objections. If they opt out they do not receive the benefit of social security or Medicare. It is extremely rare for a person to opt out, but the choice does exist. The trend to opt out came and went with the Jerry Falwell crowd. Other than that, it is all pretty much the same as a regular self employed person or W2 employee.

Prosecuting this guy is the right thing. Subsequent employers will benefit when a conviction shows up in a background check. My experience was terminating an embezzler after 5 years. We did a good (we thought) background check and found great references and clean criminal history. Of course, after termination all of his protectors felt obligated to share that he had been fired from his past 3 jobs for stealing. One of these three employers even had provided a very nice recommendation letter. How nice. We got three felonies on his record in exchange for no time served. Mission accomplished. Sad that the church embezzler will be free to embezzle elsewhere, unblemished.

9:10 Yes... but the associations appear generous/liberal with their benevolence to the chosen... not to the sinner.

Since when did it become the government's job to clean up the church's mess? IF anyone stole from the church, and the church does not want it prosecuted, then why should I, the taxpayer, have to foot the bill for an intensive investigation and week long trial? People think that big government is the answer to everything. The DA doesn't get involved if the victim declines prosecution. That's just the way it is. Most on this post don't believe in that when it's a minister accused though. Sounds like a discriminatory double standard to spend taxpayer funds on prosecution when the church is involved, but not when it's a Dr.s office or whatever else who is the alleged victim.

I am a member of Broadmoor. Many who have tithed and given for years are disillusioned to put it mildly. I can think of a few who won’t be back. Knowing you worked to give money that lined this guys pockets... That’s a bitter pill to swallow.

Louie LaFlour: You claim to be one, but what is a 'PK'?

5:03 you are just stupid. We don't live in a theocracy where churches can decide they don't want government to prosecute crime that occurs inside their doors.

It is government's job to prosecute crime regardless of private individuals desire they not do so. That is what government does.

Go take your libertarian and Ayn Rand ideas to some backwoods island where government won't bother you.

It has come to my attention that the subject of this post, the alleged embezzler, has made comments to other members of the media. Those remarks will not be published on this website. His attorney knows how to contact me or email a statement to this website and there is nothing stopping him from doing so. If that means his side is not presented on this website, oh well, that is on him for using select media outlets.

Any update on this story? Is the DA going to prosecute?