Louisiana pastor convicted of stealing over $340K from churches for gambling, personal expenses

The New York Post ^ | 07/22/2026 | Zoe Hussain

[thegagline]

A social media-savvy Louisiana pastor and author was convicted of stealing over $340,000 from his congregations to fund his gambling and personal expenses.

Dale Sanders, 56, was found guilty of a 25-count indictment charging him with wire fraud, access device fraud, and obstruction of a federal investigation after a five-day jury trial last week, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Sanders, of Kenner, withdrew funds held in one church’s bank accounts and ltransferred them to his own pocket to subsidize his lavish personal expenditures — including gambling, dining, and living expenses, prosecutors said.

Sanders worked as a pastor at the Fifth African Baptist Church in New Orleans and Second New Guide Missionary Baptist Church in Metairie, according to his social media.

He also used a church debit card for unauthorized personal transactions and received cash, goods, and services totaling over $340,000, officials said.

The fraud took place between April 2020 and April 2024, according to an indictment.

The cash-obsessed pastor also provided a falsified record in response to a grand jury subpoena, prosecutors detailed.

After Sanders was indicted in April, he posted a video to his social media accounts asking his congregants to “pray” for his “enemy.”*** “And believe this,” Sanders said. “I feel your prayers. God is already working and moving by his Spirit.”

“This is what you can do for me … I know you’re praying for me. But I need you to pray a Matthew 5:44 prayer. I need you to pray for my enemy.”

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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 8thcommandment; money; pastor; theft

[thegagline]

The “good” pastor authored the book, “Strut your Stutter,” urging people to “be peacock proud of whoever you are and whatever you’re working with.”

[A_Former_Democrat]

Yogi/BooBoo

[Bullish]

Knew it.

[gildafarrell]

What a dipstick!

[thegagline]

I think I found the pastor’s brother

[cpdiii]

When a pastor has great control of a churches finances you know something is wrong. He should have great concern about raising funds for the church. When it comes to spending the money it should be a separate group and totally open to any member of the church to look at the finances, purchases, expenditures. etc. It would be quite simple to do such. Hire a outside certified CPA firm to go through the books once a year and post it for all members to see.

Oddly I have more respect for this thief than the legal religious con men. He is just a thief. Some of these Mega Churches though 100% legal are an abomination and their leaders live a lifestyle of kings. They are bad people. They are Charlatans. The above pastor was just a thief.

[EnderWiggin1970]

We are blessed with many great Bible-believing churches in this country, but along with that comes a great many wolves in sheeps clothing, apostates and fraudsters who use even the Word of God to plunder and mislead those who come under their sway. Whether it is a lily-white "mainstream" church that sides with unbelievers on every conflict with biblical teaching, or these con artists in the black community, people need to use their discernment, exercising good judgment and oversight of pastors as well as laity, and subjecting everything to scrutiny according to God's Word.

"Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so." (Acts 17:11)

[DennisR]

Looks like something the Lord Jesus Christ would wear. /s

[citizen]

The photo is as I imagined.

[KitJ]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HeakHnfjXpg&list=RDHeakHnfjXpg&start_radio=1&pp=ygUkd291bGQgamVzdXMgd2VhciBhIHJvbGV4IHJheSBzdGV2ZW5zoAcB

Would Jesus wear a Rolex?