In shocking news from North Carolina, a pastor involved in the relief effort for Hurricane Helene has been arrested and charged with embezzlement. It is alleged that he misused funds that had been donated for hurricane relief. This new charge the pastor faces adds to a criminal record of financial crimes going back nearly two decades.
News on this comes from the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office, which released a statement in which it noted that 60-year-old Jeffrey Brian Merrow, formerly the pastor of pastor of Garden Creek Baptist Church, had been arrested and charged with felony embezzlement and felony larceny. He allegedly embezzled funds donated by members of his congregation to assist with rebuilding from the $59.6 billion of property damage done by Hurricane Helene.
Posting about the matter in a statement on Facebook, the sheriff’s office said, “Detective Grant Robinson with the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office charged 60-year-old Jeffrey Brian Merrow of Marion with felony Embezzlement and felony Larceny. He was given a secured bond of $5,000.”
Continuing in the statement, the office noted that Merrow had been suspected in late October of 2024, writing, “On October 28, 2024, Deputy Alicia Lund spoke with members of a local church regarding embezzlement, fraud and theft. Merrow, who was pastor of Garden Creek Baptist Church at that time, was named as the suspect.”
Noting what evidence there was of such crimes of embezzlement, the office first said, “During the meeting with church members, numerous receipts were presented to Lund for goods that were never purchased or services that were never rendered, all paid for using church funds. One receipt was for a claim to a local insurance company for items that were never stolen.”
It continued, “Church members also reported that large amounts of cash donations for hurricane relief, collected from attendees and the community, were handed to Merrow but never turned in for their intended use. Additionally, community-donated items for hurricane relief such as generators, chainsaws, heaters, and more—were reported stolen.”
Concluding, the office said, “Merrow is currently on supervised probation for Obtaining Property by False Pretense greater than $100,000, from an unrelated incident. Upon further investigation, a warrant issued for his arrest on November 19, 2024. He was taken into custody on January 5, 2025. This investigation continues.”
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The embezzlement allegations are far from the only accusations of financial crimes that Merrow faces. The disgraced former pastor also was convicted in an unrelated incident of petty larceny from 2021 and faces “supervised probation for Obtaining Property by False Pretense greater than $100,000” stemming from it. His criminal history dates back to 2006.
Watch a video of The Disgraced Pastor here:
Rev. Franklin Graham, commenting on the devastation in North Carolina, has said, “I think it’s much worse than what people see on television. The smells and so forth, you don’t get that through a television set; the filth that people are having to live in and work in and try to survive in.” He also said, “We work all over the world, and then all of a sudden, now you’re working in your own backyard. But I think the biggest story about this is neighbors helping neighbors. That’s the American spirit, and it’s always been that way in a crisis.”
Featured image credit: McDowell County Sheriff’s Office