In March 2014, as reported by the Houston Chronicle, Lakewood Church leaders sent an email to more than 40,000 church members announcing that over $600,000 dollars had been stolen from the megachurch, including $200,000 in cash, $400,000 in checks, and envelopes containing members’ credit card information. The money and information was taken from a safe and the church noted that everything stolen had been donated to Lakewood during church services that took place on March 8 and March 9. A church employee noticed and reported the missing funds on the morning of Monday, March 10. There was no online data breach, and as Lakewood explained in a statement, “The funds were fully insured, and we are working with our insurance company to restore the stolen funds to the church.” The Houston Police Department declined to comment further.
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Over seven-and-a-half years later, the Houston Chronicle again reported on the case, which had gone cold in the preceding years. On the morning of Thursday, December 2, 2021, a plumber only identified as “Justin” called in to a talk show on Houston country radio station 100.3 The Bull and discussed on-air the recent discovery he’d made while doing some work in Lakewood Church: around 500 envelopes hidden in a bathroom behind tiles and insulation. “I think it was about four weeks ago I was doing some plumbing work at the Lakewood Church and I discovered money in the wall that was stolen back in 2014,” claimed the caller.
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