Birmingham Pastor Sentenced In US District Court

By: NBC 13 Staff | Alabama's13.com
Published: December 18, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Gregory Louis Clarke, 53, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to serve 21 months in prison for filing false income tax returns. U.S. District Court Judge Inge Johnson ordered Clarke to pay $35,684 in restitution. Clarke will report to the Bureau of Prisons on February 15, 2008.

Clarke was indicted in March 2007, and was convicted by a federal jury in July 2007 of filing false income tax returns for the 2000, 2001 and 2002 tax years. At trial, evidence revealed that Clarke had under-reported his income in the approximate amount of $110,000 for the tax years listed above. Also at trial, the jury found that the unreported income was compensation to Clarke.

The unreported income came from the New Hope Baptist Church, the New Hope Christian School, the New Hope Federal Credit Union, and other sources.

Internal Revenue Service agents testified at trial that Clarke attempted to conceal receipt of funds by directing payment from New Hope Baptist Church directly to his creditors.

Court filings showed that some of those unreported funds included a “bonus” in the amount of $51,125 from New Hope Baptist Church, or payment in that approximate amount directly from the church bank account to Clarke’s creditors.

Funds in the amount of $16,090.90 were paid to Clarke’s housing allowance account for his service as interim manager of New Hope Federal Credit Union. Other amounts of income not reported by Clarke included $14,906.67 as a car allowance, more than $15,000 in life insurance and disability premiums and more than $11,000 in payments to Clarke from other sources.

Birmingham Pastor Sentenced In US District Court

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