Man steals church tithes from sheriff's stepmom

Lakeland - David Goheen has been a member of Crystal Lake Baptist Church for more than three decades. Monday afternoon he was busy dipping a paint roller in white paint to spruce up the church library that's being renovated. He joked around with his friend Eugene Lang to pass the time saying "We'd love to get more young people coming because that's the church of tomorrow. The folks that are here now aren't going to last forever."

Goheen says the goal of the church is to encourage new younger members to join. He says the church library is a great way to bring people from the neighborhood in and he says it's a way to keep kids out of the streets. "It's sad to see so many of them going the wrong way. We had a good example of that."

He's talking about what happened at the church during worship service on Sunday morning. The ushers took up the tithes and offering from about 70 members that were in attendance.
But as the ushers walked out of the sanctuary and into the foyer a young man visiting the church for the second time followed them out. According to Deacon Perry Weatherford the man grabbed the money from one of the church members and ran.

As if stealing money from the church wasn't enough the suspect probably didn't realize who he was stealing from. The woman holding the money handles the accounting at the church and she happens to be Sheriff Grady Judd's step-mother. Grady Judd is the sheriff of Polk County. He is not a member at Crystal Lake Baptist Church but he does visit the church on occasion.

Weatherford says the suspect got away with 100 dollars or less and the woman he snatched the money from didn't appear to be shaken up and she wasn't hurt. "She wasn't too bad. She was kind of calm. She's a pretty tough lady."

Deacon Weatherford called the sheriff's office immediately and says. "When I told them what had happened and who it was they said oh! Of course we were swarmed with cars pretty quick and then we were swarmed with helicopters." Weatherford says police K-9 officers were also called in to try to pick up the suspect's scent. He was last seen running northbound of Mount Airy Avenue and he is still on the loose.

Weatherford added "I would like to say young man if you had a told me that you needed money I would have been glad to give it to you. You didn't have to steal it. You didn't have to steal it especially from the Lord's house." Weatherford says he greeted the young man both times he attended church and he was excited about the possibility that he might be serious about joining. "There's nothing we can do except pray for him and hope he can turn his life around and make something out of it."

The suspect filled out a visitor's card saying his name is Harold. He even listed an address but when deputies checked it out they learned he's moved.

The suspect is an African-American man in his teens or early 20's. He was wearing a blue stripped shirt with baggy shorts. Polk County Sheriff's office says if you have information about the crime you could earn a cash reward by sharing that information. You can remain anonymous too. Just call Heartland Crimestoppers at 1-800-226-TIPS (8477).