Local churches victims of $100,000 theft case

By RICHEL ALBRIGHTSeveral area churches and their parishioners, including Brentwood Baptist Church and Harpeth Community Church, are victims in a fraud investigation reaching almost $100,000 that began after a Murfreesboro pastor noticed a check he wrote to his own church never got deposited to their account.

Several area churches and their parishioners, including Brentwood Baptist Church and Harpeth Community Church, are victims in a fraud investigation reaching almost $100,000 that began after a Murfreesboro pastor noticed a check he wrote to his own church never got deposited to their account.

A special agent with the United States Secret Service told Franklin Home Page that federal and local law enforcement agents are searching for Williamson County resident, Kenneth Stopkotte, and have frozen at least one of his bank accounts after it was discovered he was stealing checks from churches and depositing them into his account.

According to a warrant released by the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, on or about Nov. 29, 2012 Phillip Jackson, pastor of World Outreach Church located in Murfreesboro, contacted Detective Eric Howser of the Murfreesboro Police Department regarding a donation he had mailed to the church.

The check was made payable to World Outreach Church in the amount of $1,000 but was never received by the church, according to court documents.

Instead, after contacting his bank Jackson learned his check had been deposited to a SunTrust account that belonged to Stopkotte.

“It kind of all snowballed from there,” the agent said.

Investigators believe that Stopkotte was going through churches mailboxes and taking checks and depositing them into his account through ATM machines.

“He choose the way with the least amount of safeguard when depositing the checks,” the agent said.

According to the agent, when depositing checks through an ATM as long as the account number, check routing number and check account number are valid the check can be deposited into the account.

“It isn’t really looking at the name of who the check is made payable to,” the agent added.

Stopkotte’s account titled “Music City Pool Company” was frozen in early 2013 and currently has an amount $26,242.22. The agent is waiting for permission from SunTrust Bank in Atlanta before he can officially serve the warrant to seize the property that is subject to forfeiture.

The incident in Nov. 2012 with World Outreach Church was not the first in the four months documented in the warrant.

More than 170 checks from 15 churches were stolen. The checks were valued at $98,454.65.  

Brentwood Baptist Church reportedly had more than $46,500 in checks stolen from its mailbox, according to court documents.

“We’re hoping to find as much of the money that we can and try to make it right and get it back to those churches or parishioners,” the agent said.

The agent said that Detective Howser has created a state warrant that would freeze any other of Stopkotte’s accounts with any remaining funds in them.

“It’s a crazy amount of accounts that one person has created,” the agent added but would not disclose the amount.

When BHP attempted to contact Music City Pool Company the number listed for the company was no longer connected.

This is not Stopkotte’s first run in with the law regarding financial fraud and theft. He was arrested for suspicion of stealing checks from First Presbyterian Church in Franklin but never showed for his April 9 court date.

Also according to reports , Stopkotte was previously banned from coaching for two years after he criticized USA Swimming for its response to a sexual abuse scandal on the ABC program “20/20.” He resigned from Fishers High School in Indiana and the Fishers Area Swim Tigers swim club in 2010 following allegations he altered swim times.

The agent said they got involved on a federal level due to the amount of funds that were stolen and they are still looking for Stopkotte. 

Richel Albright is a reporter with Franklin Home Page. She can be reached at richel@franklinhomepage.com or you can follow Twitter @rwalbright.