Priest steals Ksh 6.04m from church, spends it on memberships to gay sites hook-ups

USA:   A married priest stole Ksh 6.04m (£40,000) from his church and spent some of the money on memberships to gay hook-up sites, it is alleged.

Suspicions were first raised about Boyd Holder, a pastor in Tennessee, USA, when he was caught by local police allegedly having sex with an "individual" in a van belonging to the Victory Apostolic Church where he worked. Police let him go with a warning.

Holder - who is married with two children - denies anything happened, saying that "a young man requested that I would meet with him, which I did to talk about the faith".

After the incident, church members started looking into how the pastor was managing finances. Board members confronted Holder over tens of thousands of dollars in missing funds, but those who questioned him were then pushed out of the church.

Police were called when Holder allegedly assaulted a man during a church service.

The Kingsport Times-News reports that a man told police he visited the church but was ordered to leave. When he refused, Holder allegedly "grabbed him by his belt and attempted to lift him out of the pew".

Churchgoers told police about their concerns over the finances and they opened up an investigation, eventually charging Holder with the theft of £40,000 as well as money laundering.

According to witnesses who appeared at the jury hearing, some of the money was spent with two online dating companies including Online Buddies a network of gay hook-up sites operating under brands such as Manhunt and Dandy.

Holder was taken into custody with a bail set at $35,000.

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