Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Dr. Shine goes to prison

Dr. Shine a.k.a Robert J. Freeman is a liar and a religious conman. He was recently sentenced to 27 months in prison for fraud. Freeman made his living as  a televangelist. He also bilked friends and followers out of millions of dollars in pursuit of a rich lifestyle. 

A Maryland pastor and longtime televangelist, Robert J. Freeman, a.k.a Dr. Shine, is going to jail for 27 months and was ordered to pay $630,000 to four church members. The Washington Post reports that the ‘Gods Top Gun of deliverance’ pastor lied to bankruptcy courts and hid the church’s assets in order to avoid paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in debts.

Freeman, 56, also convinced church members to take out loans for his multiple cars and $1.75 million waterfront home with five fireplaces, a jet-ski lift and two four-car garages. When the church could not cover the bills, church members were on the hook for the debt, and in some cases lost their homes and jobs.

This fraud ran a ministry which was focused on collecting as much cash as possible from the black community. He preyed on them. He might as well have turned them upside down by the ankles and shook the money out. He managed to finically ruin many of those who supported him while at the same time he lived like a king in an enormous mansion. HIs followers even continued to supported him after his first conviction even though they knew he had lied in court. I don't know how to describe this kind of crazy. It actually blows my mind. Are people really this stupid?

Freeman and his corrupt Save the Seed Ministry are the among the worst examples of the prosperity gospel run amok. In the end his owe words convict him. 

Freeman argued that in regards to the money from the church members, he was purchasing the luxury items for the benefit of the church. “I did all this publicly,” Freeman told the judge in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. “There wasn’t nothing shady about it.”

Right. You misapropriated millions of dollars worth of cash to finance your personal lifestyle "for the benefit of the church." Did he actually think anyone with a rational mind would believe him? 

You can watch an intro to Freeman's ministry here (warning! Hilarious), or watch his crazy wife Dee Dee pitch her crap at a Women of Faith conference. I am untitled to the good life… what?