Pastor Daniel Iampaglia was arrested and charged on nine petit-larceny counts for pocketing donations from a New York City church’s collection basket. Church leaders suspected Iampaglia was breaking the Eighth Commandment when collections tripled while he was hospitalized for three weeks. Churchgoers then set up a secret surveillance camera to catch him stealing from the donation box.
A Pastor Was Caught By A Hidden Camera Stealing Money From Chu…A Pastor Was Caught By A Hidden Camera Stealing Money From Church-goers
Posted by NowThis on Monday, January 4, 2016
When board members confronted Reverend Daniel Iampaglia one Sunday after church in November, he called the police to have the board expelled from the church for harassment. But after seeing the video, cops arrested Iampaglia on November 24 for allegedly stealing $238. He was issued a desk appearance ticket and released the same day.
After Iampaglia was arrested, he told a cop that he was underpaid. “They don’t pay me enough,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Laura Meehan quoted Iampaglia as saying during a court hearing on December 5. According to court documents, Iampaglia is also being sued by a group of congregants who claim he’s responsible for $8,000 missing from church funds.
But Joseph Indusi, Iampaglia’s attorney refutes all charges. “He adamantly denies any allegations of wrongdoing. These false allegations against the Pastor are a baseless attempt to gain control and improperly manipulate the Church’s leadership.”
This is certainly not church leadership at its finest: pastor makes excuses for stealing, bars members from voting. https://t.co/W3bnREhFSx
— Joshua Hershberger (@JosHershberger) January 8, 2016
Despite being accused of stealing from collection envelopes nine times in less than a month, Iampaglia continues to lead services at the church even though there have been demands for him to stand down.
He led the Sunday service on December 3 as well as organized a meeting at the church in an attempt to change the church’s bylaws and bar some of the church’s board members who want him ousted. Cops were forced to intervene at the Evangelical Rock Church on the Upper East Side after worshippers clashed with Iampaglia.
“I thought he would have a little bit of shame. It’s not like we are suspecting theft, we have videotape of him actually stealing the money and putting the money in his pocket. It’s shameful because this is a church, but we are not going to have wolves in sheep’s clothing running the show and abusing the sheep,” one board member told NBC New York.
“This is a church, we worship the Lord. How can you have a thief as a pastor?” asked Sue Cruz, another board member.
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I don’t thinkI will ever walk by a church window again and feel the same. I used to wonder about the great spiritual awakenings going on just on the otherside of those windows.
A couple of points- first, this is a rarity. Pastors are mostly well educated and receive less pay than those with a similar education and they serve without bitterness and are good and gracious people. Second, there are indeed some pastors and church leaders who steal and use their power to control others. The bigger issue, in my mind, is how much the Church in America has become influenced by extremist Right Wing culture. Good churches and good pastor remain, but they are overshadowed by churches like this one.
I used to love to eat at Chipoltles. The food seemed healthy and I looked forward to eating there. After hearing of 3 restaurants where patrons got norovirus and food poisoning, I’ve stopped eating there. My guess is that 98% of Chipoltles restaurants are still safe and good, but the fear of norovirus ( God it’s awful- have had it twice and never ever want it again ) has kept me away. The Church in America has examples like Mike Huckabee and Liberty University, and 95% of Evangelicals always vote Republican. I want that like I want the norovirus. At least the leadership at Chipoltles has recognized that there’s a problem and is publicly apologizing and taking steps to improve things. I’ve yet to hear a major Evangelical leader do the same thing .. so I’m avoiding those churches like the norovirus.
Dear People,
Please first before making many generalizations, going political, ethnicity, evangelical, gender etc. please stop for a moment and hear all sides of this story–including the pastor’s. I have known this pastor for a long time in Christian circles. I met him for than 25 years ago, and I’ve been ministered to by him. Yet, if he’s guilty then I agree regardless to his faithful years of service, he should be a man of integrity and yes step down. Now, to my fellow Christian brothers and sisters involved in this or not involved let’s also be people who demonstrate a balance of upholding righteous, truth, discipline and always, but always living a path to repentance and restoration. If this pastor is guilty then he needs repentance and restoration of his soul. I also know that the bible disciplines leaders who don’t feed the flock or abuse/take advantage of. In this situation it would be using leadership wrongly for ones advantage. I’m still talking to Christians okay, what I’ve observed on media are a few angry (understandable) members who want this pastor out of the door, immediately. I detect but not sure, there seems to be some personal feelings involved and a disliking toward the leader as well. Well, that’s something not to ignore either because a leader should desire favor amongst those that they lead. Of course a leader will have their enemies, but people also know when they are loved by a pastor. I’ve experience that well in a church I belonged to for a while. So although the topic here is money, I sense there’s something deeper going on here and it’s spiritual and emotional. Also, we can’t be moved by this and start going political because let’s just stick to the Word of God in judging our brother and ourselves. If you check the scriptures there plenty who were called by God and used by God who like this leader is believed to have done, failed in some way. Impaglia sadly is not the first and won’t be the last. We are all capable of some horrible things, aren’t we. Like even fighting in the house of worship; that’s also shameful brothers and sisters. I pray that even in the most trying circumstances that we would not loose wisdom and bring shame to ourselves or our King. Amen? This is all so sad and I pray for truth and justice. But I’m not going to write off my brother either because he is able to ask and receive mercy. On the other hand I agree that he should be a man of wisdom and integrity and step down even if it’s for a season to seek direction. Truthfully, all of this going on is an indication that within this church something is not healthy within leadership and the group. But healing is possible and restoration should be sought for all involved. As for money, indeed many have lost everything for trying to wrongfully get money including their very life. The problem is not money but the condition of the heart that handles the money. Folks on the far left are making money off of those who don’t have money and their slogan is “helping the poor.” Those who have money feel their abundance means they are blessed. I say those who trust God to meet their needs and uphold honesty are truly blessed. With all this being said I pray for the pastor, for repentance across the board here. Remember, this is Jesus’ to begin with, He’s the owner. I believe that Truth will be revealed and every deceptive device exposed. To non-Christians, I say we are not a people who walk around sinless, we are redeemed in our souls, but Praise God we now have the ability to sin less due to the work of Christ on the inside. Blessings,
Failure Amongst God’s leaders is not new and it’s certainly not new in politics. When in need it’s better to just present that need publicly to a fellowship and together make financial decisions. I tell you all of us probably will be tested in one way or the other in our lifetime to do the honorable thing concerning money. Or maybe we are tested daily with even a small amount of money. When I see this pastor counting money his body language looks uncomfortable. I honestly think he needed the money for something pertaining to the church and that it was seemingly easier to just go and get it since he obviously has access to do so. His look of discomfort says to me that he’s not comfortable in this situation but it’s convenient and I can do this, he’s the pastor. It looks like a situation in which he didn’t calculate those actions well or imagined how it would look on camera. Certainly the amount that he took, a small amount is an indication that this money serves for something that’s immediate. Or those in opposition to him states this was a normal routine for him because the offerings are missing. Again is this a careless act of the pastor to just take what he feels he needs from the offering and not inform anyone. He might want to use those funds toward the church and not have to use his personal income. Yes, there’s something that could have been better handled here and more honest, I believe. But to make out this pastor to be a THIEF without compiling all the details and variables here I don’t think is godly wisdom. At any rate, a leader in this situation I feel needs to come forward, apologize and take some time to seek God and where they might have gone wrong. On the other hand, what I find suspicious amongst some of the board leaders is the determination to quickly get him ou of this position. Therefore, in that vein it seems there’s some personal stuff going on too. I could be wrong and forgive me either way this goes but there’s more to this event than what we see the pastor doing on camera.