Did a plumber solve the mystery of the missing $600,000 taken from Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church more than seven years ago?!
Back in 2014, hundreds of thousands of dollars in checks, cash, and envelopes containing credit card information vanished from a safe at the Houston-based megachurch. Yikes! Despite a $25,000 reward from Crime Stoppers and media attention at the time, the church never recovered the funds, and police made no arrests in the case. In fact, they are still investigating the theft to this day! However, this recent unexpected discovery may have just changed things.
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Last month, an unidentified plumber randomly called into 100.3 The Bull’s morning radio show revealing he stumbled upon some hidden treasure — envelopes full of cash and checks — at the church one day. According to KPCR 2, he said he made the shocking discovery while doing some repair work for the place on November 10, explaining:
“There was a loose toilet in the wall, and we removed the tile. We went to go remove the toilet, and I moved some insulation away and about 500 envelopes fell out of the wall, and I was like ‘Oh wow!’”
Instead of running away with the loot, he immediately contacted his supervisor and handed it over:
“I went ahead and contacted the maintenance supervisor that was there, and I turned it all in.”
Of course, host George Lindsey couldn’t believe what happened, expressing:
“We were like, ‘What are you talking about?’ So, then he relayed to us that in 2014 there was a big story about money being stolen from Lakewood Church that they never recovered.”
Turns out the robbery was literally an inside job! Inside the walls! LOLz!
It’s unclear how much money was contained inside the envelopes. However, the latest development in the case certainly brings up some questions about how the dough ended up in the wall AND if it is the same missing money. As Lindsey put it:
“Don’t you want to know what happened, I mean they stole the money, but they didn’t get it out of the wall. Did they have an accident, you know what I mean? It’s like, why did they never go back? If it’s that money, why did they never go back?”
Here’s another question we had immediately: HOW DID THEY GET IT INTO THE WALL IN THE FIRST PLACE?? Was there construction going on at the time? Did someone know there was a loose toilet back then where they could hide the money and get it later? So many questions…
In a statement to KHOU 11, a representative from Lakewood Church confirmed the discovery, stating:
“Recently, while repair work was being done at Lakewood Church, an undisclosed amount of cash and checks were found. Lakewood immediately notified the Houston Police Department and is assisting them with their investigation. Lakewood has no further comment at this time.”
Crazzzzy!
So about that $25,000 reward…
At the time of the burglary, Crime Stoppers told KPRC 2 that they offered the money only for those who contacted them with information prompting an arrest of a suspect. But unfortunately for the plumber, the statute of limitation has since expired — meaning he won’t be getting anything even if the discovery ends up being the stolen $600,000.
Could we be calling this case closed sometime soon? We will have to wait and see what investigators say!
Reactions to this insane find, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments (below)!
[Image via Johnny Louis/WENN, KPRC 2 Click2Houston/YouTube]
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