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Former pastor gets probation
Church members pushed for term that would let him repay some of embezzled $292,000
Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman
Wendell Johnson (center), the former pastor of First Baptist Church on Highland Avenue, is flanked by his attorneys Steve Smith (left) and Richard Ramsey.
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Published: February 6, 2009
For all the words spoken yesterday as a former Winston-Salem pastor was sentenced for embezzling $292,000 from his church, it was two left unspoken that stood out.
"If he would have just said, ‘I'm sorry,' it would have made a world of difference," Miriam McCarter, a church member for more than 20 years, said of the Rev. Wendell Johnson.
Johnson entered an Alford plea in Forsyth Superior Court to nine counts of embezzlement during his 20-year tenure as pastor at First Baptist Church on Highland Avenue. An Alford plea allows him to plead guilty in his own best interest but without acknowledging wrongdoing.
"You talk about arrogant," McCarter said. "Nothing about him says ‘reverend.'"
Judge William Z. Wood Jr. sentenced Johnson to nine back-to-back sentences of six to eight months, all suspended as long as he completes five years of probation. Johnson agreed to pay back more than $120,000, and to make monthly payments of $1,000 for five years.
"He abused his sacred calling, without a doubt," Wood said of Johnson.
Johnson did not speak at the hearing and declined to comment afterward. Neither he nor his attorneys apologized for what prosecutors and church members described as a pattern of siphoning off church money in addition to his salary and housing allowance.
The payments included money for a family cruise; trips to Vail, Colo., and Las Vegas with a woman in Richmond identified as a childhood friend of Johnson's; personal expenses; and mortgage payments for Johnson's house.
Jim O'Neill and Jennifer Martin, the assistant district attorneys for the case, outlined nine ways that they said Johnson diverted church money for his own use.
The criminal charges and plea were worked out in an agreement with Johnson that church members supported, O'Neill said.
An embezzlement charge that would have carried mandatory prison time had been an option, O'Neill said, but church members asked Wood to keep Johnson out of prison and to approve an arrangement to recover some of the money.
Johnson liquidated his retirement account in December, expecting an indictment that came Jan. 12. Yesterday, his attorneys gave the church a cashier's check for $120,088.74.
The end of Johnson's tenure at the church in the fall of 2005 sharply divided church members, as some began to question how a church with such generous members seemed to always be poorly maintained.
The sanctuary ceiling was missing tiles; a kitchen renovation was started and put on hold; and the church's family-life center, in a basement, would flood regularly.
Church member Danny Freeman had asked to see the church's records, but Johnson had refused, O'Neill said.
When there finally was a church meeting, O'Neill said, Johnson abruptly tried to end it before questions about the church's finances could be raised.
Church members then elected a new board of trustees, including Freeman. They began to review expenses, poring over 7,000 transactions by hand and finding 3,300 that were questionable, Freeman said.
They found out that the church was $61,000 in debt and that the health-care plan for employees had been canceled because the church had not paid the premiums. The Internal Revenue Service was taking steps to have the church padlocked over back taxes, O'Neill said.
"He was very successful in surrounding himself with people who would not challenge him," Freeman said.
Detective Michael Saunders of the Winston-Salem Police Department said that Johnson would submit paperwork for his expenses and use various categories of legitimate church expenses to hide his personal expenses.
Johnson resigned from the church in November 2005 when confronted about the expenses. He also resigned from his position as a volunteer chaplain at the police department after the police began investigating.
Johnson then tried to withdraw his resignation, only to be arrested and charged with trespassing when he tried to preach at Sunday services.
Johnson had a handful of supporters at the hearing yesterday, including a former chairman of the church's board and several former members.
"Just like he encouraged and stood behind me, I did for him," said Maya McCoy. "We all fall short of God's graces."
After resigning, Johnson became pastor at Jerusalem Baptist Church in Norfolk, Va. He declined to say yesterday if he still holds that job. The church's voice mail lists him as pastor.
■ Dan Galindo can be reached at 727-7377 or at dgalindo@wsjournal.com.
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