This is Sickening: NASA IG Pleads Guilty to Church Fraud

By Gary Snyder
A former special agent who worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Inspector General office has pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return that failed to list the $300,000 in cash he stole from his church’s collections while serving as a deacon.

Alvin Danielle Allen had served as a deacon at Lancaster Baptist Church in Lancaster, Calif., since around 1998 and was also a member of the church’s board. From 2004 through 2009, he served on a church committee that counted the tithes after the church services. While serving in that role, he regularly stole from the congregants’ cash contributions, he admitted in his plea agreement.

The amount of money he stole varied over the years until approximately October 2009, when he was caught on a hidden surveillance camera stealing the church tithings and hiding the cash in his clothes. He stole approximately $299,975 from the church between 2004 and 2008. He was previously convicted in state court of grand theft by embezzlement and commercial burglary for stealing from the church.










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