A Louisiana pastor who publicly denied stealing from his churches now faces up to 20 years in federal prison after a jury convicted him on 25 counts of wire fraud, access device fraud, and obstruction.

Dale Sanders, 56, of Kenner, Louisiana, drained more than $340,000 from the bank accounts and debit cards of one of the two churches he led, funneling the money into gambling, dining, and personal living expenses, the Christian Post reported. A federal jury in the Eastern District of Louisiana returned the guilty verdict after a five-day trial.

U.S. Attorney David Courcelle announced the conviction in a statement. Sanders pastored two congregations: Fifth African Baptist Church in New Orleans and Second New Guide Missionary Baptist Church in Metairie. Federal prosecutors said he siphoned money from one of those churches, identified only as "Church A" in court filings, by withdrawing funds, transferring money to accounts he controlled, and running up unauthorized charges on the church's debit card.

The scheme ran from April 2020 through April 2024, the New York Post reported. Four years of a pastor helping himself to his congregation's tithes and offerings.

Sanders spent church money on gambling, dining, and daily bills

The U.S. Attorney's Office laid out the mechanics plainly:

"Sanders would withdraw funds and transfer money held in Church A's bank accounts to accounts controlled by Sanders. The money was used to fund his personal expenditures, to include gambling, dining, and living expenses."

Prosecutors also said Sanders used the church's debit card for unauthorized personal transactions, receiving "cash, goods and services totaling over $340,000 that he was not entitled to." The indictment, filed roughly three months before the conviction, put the total above $343,000.

But Sanders did not just steal. He tried to cover his tracks. The jury found him guilty of obstruction of a federal investigation for providing a falsified record in response to a grand jury subpoena, a charge that turns a financial crime into something more calculated. A man who knew investigators were closing in and chose to hand them a doctored document.

The case is one of several recent federal prosecutions involving clergy accused of criminal conduct. In Tennessee, federal agents raided a pastor's home in an IRS probe over church funds, a reminder that the government is watching how tax-exempt dollars move through houses of worship.

From the pulpit to Facebook, Sanders denied everything

After his indictment roughly three months before trial, Sanders posted a video on Facebook vehemently denying the allegations. He pointed the finger at a former finance manager at Second New Guide Missionary Baptist Church, claiming that individual was responsible for the financial mismanagement.

Sanders told his followers he had protected the unnamed finance manager at his own expense:

"I shielded what was going on. Shielded this gentleman, covered it to the expense of my own exposure."

He described the damage the alleged mismanagement caused. Church lights shut off on Wednesday nights during Bible study. Insurance lapsed, and renewing it cost tens of thousands of dollars. Sanders claimed he received "a salary of zero from the Second New Guide Missionary Baptist Church" for four years.

He also appealed to his congregation's faith. In the same video, Sanders asked viewers to pray for his accusers:

"I need you to pray for my enemy. The Bible says, Pray for them that despitefully use you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my namesake."

And he acknowledged his own imperfection, while insisting the charges were baseless:

"Dale Sanders has never suggested to anyone that he was a perfect man. But there are some things I would never do. And what I'm being accused of is something I have never done."

The jury disagreed. On all 25 counts.

A family pattern Sanders wrote about himself

Sanders was not the first member of his family to face accusations of stealing from a church. His father, Rev. Leroy Sanders Sr., a longtime Baptist pastor, was accused of theft from the congregation he led for more than 40 years. The elder Sanders was arrested by the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff's Office and spent two years fighting the case in court before the charges were dropped.

Dale Sanders referenced his father's ordeal in his book, *Termites in the Church*. The title carries a bitter irony now. Sanders wrote about threats to the church from within, and a jury just concluded he was one of them.

The conviction adds to a troubling pattern of criminal cases involving faith leaders across the country. A Florida ex-pastor was recently convicted on 12 felony counts and sentenced to life in prison, while a California pastor faces a second murder charge in the disappearance of a former congregant. Each case erodes the trust that congregations place in the people who stand behind their pulpits.

Sanders faces up to 20 years and a $250,000 fine

U.S. District Judge Brandon Long, who presided over the trial, scheduled Sanders' sentencing for October 13. The conviction carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, a fine of $250,000 or more, and three years of supervised probation upon release.

Several questions remain unanswered. Which of Sanders' two churches is the "Church A" identified in the prosecution's case? What happened to the former finance manager Sanders blamed publicly, was that individual ever investigated? And what was in the falsified record Sanders handed over in response to the grand jury subpoena?

What is clear is the bottom line: a pastor entrusted with two congregations' spiritual and financial welfare chose to treat their offerings as his personal bank account. He gambled with their money, ate on their dime, and paid his bills with their donations, then, when investigators came asking, he gave them a forged document.

Cases like these, alongside incidents such as a Florida pastor arrested on bigamy charges, underscore a hard truth for churchgoers: a collar and a title are not substitutes for accountability and oversight.

Congregations that hand their trust, and their money, to a single leader without financial transparency are not exercising faith. They are taking a gamble. And in this case, the pastor was the only one at the table.