Former Oxnard pastor sentenced to two years for stealing $200,000 from church

A former assistant pastor who misappropriated $200,000 from a local church during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was sentenced Friday to two years in state prison, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office announced.

Curtis Frank Lemons, who previously lived in Camarillo and now resides in Atoka, Tennessee, pleaded guilty in April to three felony counts — two of grand theft and one of money laundering. The charges stem from his actions while serving as an assistant pastor at New Progressive Christian Baptist Church in Oxnard in late 2020.

Prosecutors said Lemons issued himself a $200,000 cashier’s check from the church’s bank account in December 2020, as the church’s longtime patriarch was gravely ill and the congregation was grappling with the early uncertainties of the pandemic.

In the months that followed, Lemons used the funds to pay for a range of personal expenses, including dental work, airline tickets, a new vehicle, a cell phone, and real estate in Tennessee, according to court records.

“This is a sad case,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Howard Wise, who led the prosecution, said in a statement. “Mr. Lemons stole from a vulnerable victim at a vulnerable time. The patriarch of the church was near death when this happened at the onset of COVID. Mr. Lemons made a terrible decision but has accepted responsibility for his significant theft.”

An investigation by the Oxnard Police Department uncovered the financial discrepancies after church officials reported the missing funds. At one point, Lemons claimed he had donated the money to charity, but investigators found no evidence to support that claim.

In addition to his prison sentence, Lemons was ordered to pay full restitution of $200,000 to the church.