L.A.’s Fifth Church of Christ Scammed out of $11.5 million
The former chairman and facilities manager of a historic Los Angeles church pleaded guilty Monday to stealing millions of dollars from church members over a decade, using the money to finance buying an expensive mansion and exclusive club memberships for himself.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Charles Thomas Sebesta, a 54-year-old Huntington Beach resident, agreed to plead guilty to one count each of wire fraud and bank fraud for orchestrating the scheme to steal at least $11.5 million from the Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist, a longtime Hollywood-based branch of the Church of Christian Science.
In court Monday, U.S. Central District Judge Stephen V. Wilson described Sebesta’s scheme as “looting” the church of everything it owned.
“This wasn’t piecemeal,” Wilson said from the bench. “In the end the church was robbed wholesale.”...
