A church treasurer in Pennsylvania has been arrested for spending $150,606 of church funds on pornography, The Christian Post reports.
Glenn Youthers, the treasurer for Saint Paul Lutheran Church of Latrobe for 12 years, allegedly stole the money over a period of four years, from February 2015-December 2019. His bank records allegedly show he was spending large portions of it on a website titled “Flirt for Free.”
According to court documents that TribLive obtained, State Trooper Robert Politowski found that “At one point, the utilities of the church were shut off and the church almost shut down due to Yothers not paying bills.”
Politowski also said that “Yothers was asked if this was a pornographic website, and Yothers confirmed it was. Yothers stated he got to know some of these people well enough where he was trying to help those people. Yothers stated he started this with the best intentions because he wanted to help people, but it snowballed out of control.”
However, State Trooper Steve Limani reportedly said that none of it was for charity or helping others but was purely selfish. As the trooper reportedly stated to WPXI, “None of this was going to charity at all. It’s going to his own personal enjoyment and his own personal use.”
One of the reasons Yothers gave for spending the money was that he felt lonely while his wife was away at work, according to TribLive. He was released on signature bond and his hearing is scheduled for March 24th.
St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church is one of the oldest congregations in Westmoreland County, according to their website. They are “Christ-Centered, Mission-Driven, Traditionally-Grounded, and Congregationally-Focused.” According to their website, their mission is “WorSHIP, DiscipleSHIP, FellowSHIP; Come on Board!”
The church also has an emergency food pantry that is stocked with nonperishables, such as canned food and dry goods, and fruit.
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John Paluska has been a contributor for Christian Headlines since 2016 and is the founder of The Daily Fodder, a news outlet he relaunched in 2019 as a response to the constant distribution of fake news.
