Florida Pastor Being Investigated for Allegedly Embezzling Church Funds

Rev. Howard Barr Jr. is suspected of embezzling funds from his church inDelray Beach,Floridain 2007, according to the budget committee of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church.

Sgt. Nicole Guerriero, police spokeswoman, said that the police were investigating the complaint, she said in an email, “We are investigating but it is in the preliminary stages.”

The police have not made any arrest or filed any charges against Rev. Barr Jr.  Those who support him are making it clear that he is innocent until proven guilty.

Chairman of the church’s Budget Committee, Larry Davis, and several deacons told the police how Barr had given himself a 17 percent pay increase without informing them and other instances where he failed to show due honesty.

Police officer Mark D. Huyett wrote in his report, “Davis supplied copies from his own investigation, which were turned over to Detective Daryl Hunter.”

Davis told police that on Feb. 18, 2012, the deacons met with Steven Gilbertson, the church’s CPA, to discuss the church’s finances.

Gilbertson told them the pastor’s salary was $54,000, which perplexed them.

“I told him that the salary from the church approved budget was $49,500 and did not recognize the $54,000 figure,”Davis said. “As chairman of the budget committee, I was aware of all church approved expenditures.”

Barr’s purported $54,000 salary does not include an additional $18,497 that the pastor received in 2012 and prior years for funerals, hosting revivals, Easter service, etc.,Davis said. The extra $18,497 was not reported to the IRS per the church’s 501c3 status,according to Davis. This is a huge red flag that the pastor was earning money and not being as transparent with his congregation and the government as he should have been.

Davis also told police “the church’s financial statements were withheld from him for six months in 2011 when he normally receives one every month,” Huyett said.

The church suffered losses from 2010 to 2012 and “the assets for the church have decreased significantly since 2011,” according to the police report.

The Rev. Howard B. Barr Jr., a 20-year Army veteran who grew up in the church, has been pastor at St. Paul since 2007, he declined to comment on the allegations.

SCRIPTURES

EZEKIEL 34: 1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. 4The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. 5And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. 6My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.

7Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; 8As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock; 9Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; 10Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.