A former Ohio pastor convicted of fleecing some $1 million from his church in 2010 and sentenced to several years in prison plus a period of community control or probation he argues is beyond the state’s five-year limit has taken his case to the state’s Supreme Court.
David Thompson, who led the World of Pentecost Church in Columbus from 1998 to 2007, was convicted of 21 felonies, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, theft and forgery in 2010, according to Court News Ohio, a service of the Office of Public Information of the Supreme Court of Ohio.
Thompson received a sentence of five years in prison for 19 counts related to his crime, while he was offered five years of community control for two of the 21 felonies. He was also ordered to pay the church $733,048 in restitution. His sentences were scheduled to run consecutively.
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He appealed his sentenced in 2011, court documents show, but only his theft conviction and the amount of his restitution were reduced.
Four years later, in January 2015, Thompson applied for and received a judicial release from his prison sentence, but he was ordered to continue paying restitution along with five years of community control as conditions of his early release.
On March 13, 2019, Thompson’s probation officer reported that he had violated the terms of his community control by failing to make appropriate payments toward restitution to the church, court documents show. At the time, the former pastor had an outstanding restitution balance of $621,377.50.
At a hearing to revoke his community control, the court noted that Thompson had been “underemployed” while on community control and had “not made the effort.”
“The court specifically noted that, despite his minimal payments toward restitution, appellant ‘found money’ to take several trips, including a trip ‘to Tennessee to get married and go to Myrtle Beach for [his] honeymoon,'” court documents noted.
A trial court found Thompson would have to return to prison and finish the remaining 11 months of prison time from his original sentence on the 19 counts. The court further ruled that he would have to serve the original five years of community control for the two-count conviction after completing the remaining 11 months of his initial sentence.
Thompson later mounted a series of appeals. In his last appeal, he argued that state law caps community control at five years. Since he already served five years of community control after his judicial release in 2015, he shouldn’t be forced to serve another five-year term.
The Tenth District upheld his latest sentence in a 2-1 decision, including the second five-year community control period. The former pastor appealed the decision at the Ohio Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear his case.
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