Seven years after an estimated $600,000 was stolen from a safe at Joel Osteen’s Houston megachurch, envelopes full of money were found hidden in a bathroom wall there, the church has confirmed.
The story of the Nov. 10 discovery came to light Thursday when a man identifying himself as a plumber called the Morning Bullpen radio show at Houston’s KILT, “The Bull.”
He described the events that occurred while he was making a plumbing repair at Lakewood Church: “There was a loose toilet in the wall, and we removed the tile,” the caller said. “We went to go remove the toilet, and I moved some insulation away and about 500 envelopes fell out of the wall, and I was like, ‘Oh wow!’”
He said they ended up pulling out about 3,000 envelopes containing cash and checks. He did not estimate how much was found, and the church’s statement didn’t, either.
Neither the church nor the Houston police addressed whether the discovery was related to the highly publicized theft in March 2014.
About $200,000 in cash and $400,000 in checks — the take from collections at one weekend’s services — disappeared from a safe sometime between a Sunday afternoon and the following morning.
It was never recovered.
At the time, a $25,000 reward was offered for information leading to an arrest in the case. On Thursday, Houston TV station KPRC asked Crime Stoppers, the group offering the award, whether the plumber would get any of the reward.
Its spokesperson said he would not — that the reward was only for information about the culprit, and that the statute of limitations for that crime has expired.
Lakewood is one of the nation’s largest churches, drawing more than 50,000 people a week before the pandemic. Since 2005, it has been housed in an arena that was the former home of the Houston Rockets. Joel Osteen became its lead pastor in 1999.
Source: Orange County Register
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