Probation officer gives office BJ to boot-camp teen
What Wouldn't Jesus Do?: Brooklyn Rabbi Baruch Lebovits Guilty Of Molesting Boys
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 9:00 am
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We are proud to announce that, for the first time ever, the No. 1 spot on What Wouldn't Jesus Do? isn't being inhabited by a pedophile priest or preacher -- but a pervert of the non-Christian persuasion. Give it up for Rabbi Baruch Lebovits for busting glass ceilings...
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5. Byron "Father Barney" Canada
We've had stories of thieving priests on this list before -- but none have ever reached the heights of Byron Canada, aka Father Barney.
At first glance, "Father Barney" is an old school priest of the umpteenth degree, from his starched white collar to his stern, but gentle grin. Hailing form Indiana, in close proximity to the University of Notre Dame, Canada claims to be an ordained priest of the Orthodox-Catholic Church, though no one can seem to link him to a parish. Still, his priestly presence was enough to convince numerous investors that he was a trustworthy man.
Take Paul Murphy, for example. Murphy has been in the real estate development business for over 42 years. And we aren't talking affordable housing development, either -- but $150 million luxury condo types of projects, like the Regalia in Tampa, Florida.
Last year, Murphy was in the midst of looking for funding for his Regalia project when the credit markets suddenly seized up, thanks to the housing crisis and subsequent stock market crash. That's when he met Canada.
Aside from being a priest, Canada also ran Providence Funding, a self-proclaimed "faith-based" commercial lender. Father Barney told Murphy he could help -- he just needed $300,000 up front for application fees.
Months after Murphy wired the funds to Canada, he finally realized he'd been scammed. At first, Canada was full excuses. Then, he simply stopped taking the developer's calls altogether.
Murphy wasn't the first, nor the last person to get burned by Canada. According to the feds, he has stolen upwards of $2.9 million from developers and churches in the past four years. His scam is always the same -- he lures folks in with his godly demeanor, asks for "application fee" funds -- ranging from $5,000 to $300,000 -- up front, and then disappears without ever making good on his promise of a loan.
In fact, Canada has never actually made a loan through Providence Funding. And he's done this sort of thing before. Apparently, the 61-year-old spent three years in prison in the early 1990s for duping developers out of applications for loans he never intended to make. But it was only recently that he had taken up the "priestly" shtick.
Last week, Canada found himself in court again. He pled guilty to 31 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, and criminal conspiracy. He is free on bond until his sentencing on September 27.
4. Issac Ovid
If you think Canada's scheme is bad, then you haven't heard of Issac Ovid before.
At the young age of 29, Ovid was the priest of the Local Christian Assembly Church in New York City. But, as it turns out, his main interest was not in shepherding his flock -- but fleecing them instead.
From his congregation, Ovid culled a hefty collection of over 80 investors -- mostly elderly -- whom he encouraged to invest in his two hedge funds, Logos Multi-Strategy I and the Donum Fund, which he created in 2005. With four other church leaders, Ovid managed these funds as the CEO and Chairman of Jadis Capital, Inc.
However, we use the term "manage" very loosely. In reality, Ovid -- a business school drop out -- was busy manipulating numbers in order to make it look like folks could receive up to 75 percent returns on their investments. He made up all sorts of fancy charts and graphs to show how well his two funds were performing. Ovid's trusting congregants were so impressed by the potential, that some even mortgaged their homes in hopes of making some quick cash. All in all, Ovid managed to swipe more than $10.2 million from his parishioners.
But that money never made it into the stock market -- it all went straight into the pockets of Ovid and his four associates. When it wasn't being spent on jewelry, vacations, and lavish dinners, it was being used to buy Ovid things like his $200,000 Bentley. All in all, the priest and his cronies stole more than $12 million.
The feds soon caught on to the Jadis Capital scam. But while the other three ministers were being busted, Ovid was off vacationing at his Caribbean home.
However, once he flew back to the United States, authorities caught up with him as well.
On March 5, Ovid appeared in federal court and pled guilty to his securities fraud scheme. He has yet to receive a sentence.
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3. Carva White
While Canada and Ovid will hopefully receive proper time for their heinous acts of thievery, at least they didn't burn down any churches in the process. That's a whole other bag of crooked -- and the reason why Carva White has beat out our previous two douche bags on today's list.
In 2008, White was working as the music director of the Sunflower Missionary Baptist Church in Kansas City when he got a heck of an idea. He decided he'd burn down the church in hopes of collecting thousands from insurance companies, by having contractors submit inflated bids on his behalf.
White made his first arson attempt that Halloween. But when he realized that that fire would only bring in about $30,000 in damages, he decided for one more try. This time, he was able to start a fire worth over $100,000 in damages -- all of which he hoped to pocket.
But White isn't much of a mastermind. In fact, the 46-year-old has never had much luck at getting away with his half-baked schemes. In 2006, he earned the nickname of the "Candyman Preacher" when he was caught enlisting kids from his congregation to sell candy on the streets -- money that went right into his pockets. Before that, he was busted on bank fraud charges in 2001.
Last week, White met with the law again. After pleading guilty to one count of mail fraud and one count of arson in the 2008 fire, White was sentenced to 150 months in federal prison without parole.
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2. Nana Kofi Yirenkyi aka "Jesus One Touch"
This week, Nana Kofi Yirenkyi will also be appearing in court. However, it won't be in the US, but in Ghana. And his crime isn't theft, but incest.
Nana Kofi Yirenkyi is known to his congregants as "Jesus One Touch," the founder of the Jesus Blood Prophetic Ministry in Ghana, Africa. However, that appears to be where his relationship with Jesus begins and ends.
Last week, Yirenkyi appeared in court, where he stood accused of raping his 10-year-old daughter.
The girl had been born out of wedlock and had been raised by her mother until 2005, when she was brought to live with her father. From that time on, Yirenkyi began raping her, wiping away his sperm with a white handkerchief from her body of each terrifying encounter.
When the girl's mother came to visit, she noticed an immediate change in her daughter. When she asked if the girl had been touched inappropriately, the girl answered that her attacker was none other than her father.
After the girl's mother went to police, Yirenkyi was immediately arrested on charges of incest. The authorities are still investigating the case, while Yirenkyi remains free on bond. He has been ordered to appear in court again this week.
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1. Rabbi Baruch Lebovits
It took 82 years for a woman to finally win an Oscar for Best Directing. But here, at What Wouldn't Jesus Do?, it took a man of non-Christian leanings less than two months to take our top prize for religious creep of the week. We're open minded like that...
Last Tuesday, Baruch Lebovits, an Orthodox rabbi based in Brooklyn, New York, was found guilty on eight of ten counts for sexually assaulting a teenage boy. He now faces decades in prison.
The victim, now 22-years-old, was friends with Lebovits's son. In 2004 and 2005, the Rabbi lured the boy into his car with promises of driving lessons. He'd then have the boy pull over and "perform sex acts on him." He also offered to pay the boy off if he kept quite about the incidents.
It took a jury less than three hours to find Lebovits guilty. As he awaits sentencing, he is also facing charges in two more cases of molesting minors.
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