Pastor Gets 18 Months for Selling Church

AP ^ | 1/30/6

[SmithL]

Manteca, Calif. -- A pastor accused of selling the town's oldest church pleaded guilty to embezzlement on Monday and agreed to 18 months in prison, court officials said.

Randall Radic, 53, entered his plea as part of a deal in which prosecutors agreed to drop nine other charges.

Radic had preached at First Congregational Church in Ripon for nearly a decade before he sold the church last October for $525,000, allegedly using the money to buy a BMW. He also faked documents that gave him possession of his house, which was owned by the church, then used the property to take out loans, authorities said.

[SmithL]

There's a special place waiting just for him.

[stylin19a]

BMW makes a $500k car ?

[Reaganesque]

Parishoners began to suspect something when they came to church one day and found it had been converted to a Starbucks.

[PAR35]

I'll predict that he'll claim a religious experience in prison, and be out fleecing a new crop by the end of the year.