Terrance “Tony” Elliott, 60, is under arrest. Again. This time he is charged with eleven counts of wire fraud. 

The offence of wire-fraud is where fraud is committed by some kind of communications across state lines and it is charged by federal authorities in order to make a federal case. 

Elliot, of Crestline, California, has a criminal history going back to 1983 when he was jailed for cheque fraud. In 1994, he was arrested for stealing from a church in Los Angeles, local media report say.

In 2004, Tina Satterwhite claimed that she was in financial difficulty and Elliot suggested she sell her home and put the proceeds in a trust to protect it. He set up the trust, made himself sole signatory, then stole USD75,000 from it, Satterwhite said, leaving her homeless and destitute. 

Elliott claims to have three doctorates and to have led a facebook church called The Ship for 20 years. In 2022 he tried to become a city councillor for San Bernadino but failed to win his seat: a local newspaper ran a report about his history.

Despite all of that, Elliott became the chaplain for the San Barnadino Police Department and it was using that status that, according to the indictment, he really started to make money.

It is alleged that he told one person to create a trust and to put an inheritance into it because he told her "she would lose her Medicare and Social Security benefits if she directly received the inheritance," it is alleged. It is alleged that the trust was created, that he took full control and began to use it as his own piggy bank - without the deposits. Prosecutors allege that, "Over the course of several years, prosecutors say he spent more than USD114,000 on things like truck repairs, Nike sneakers, a piano and “an extended warranty for a motorcycle.”" And then, when she died, instead of using pre-allocated trust funds for the funeral, he talked s relative into paying more than USD8,000. 

And there's more....

You just can't trust anyone these days, can you.

Full report:  https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/controversial-california-pastor-legal-trouble-20212986.php

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/san-bernardino-church-pastor-and-e…