TYLER, Texas — A Smith County judge denied a request to delay the trial date for a longtime Tyler pastor accused of stealing from an elderly couple, his former church and a local nonprofit during a Thursday morning court appearance.
Rev. Jerome Milton is facing charges of property theft worth $30,000 to $150,000 (against an elderly individual), money laundering and enhanced property theft worth $30,000 to $150,000. His case will go to trial on Aug. 15.
These charges stem from accusations of Milton, who serves as reverend at Open Door Bible Church in Tyler, using bank transfers and credit cards to steal from two elderly congregation members as well as stealing from the previous church he led and the East Texas Communities Foundation.
During a Thursday morning hearing, 114th District Court Judge Austin Reeve Jackson denied a request from Milton's defense to postpone the trial by one month.
This was his first court appearance after his recent indictments for enhanced property theft and money laundering came down in June.
Milton's attorney said he was working to get evidence together after Milton's recent indictments.
Smith County Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Anderson said the state is ready for trial and objected to the defense's continuance.
Jackson said his expectation is that Milton's trial will be "the number one case" on Aug. 15.
Police documents obtained in October 2021 state Milton unlawfully took money from congregation members, Wayford and Marilyn Brown, using multiple check withdrawals and ATM transactions while he serving as their power of attorney and finances.
The document states Milton used the funds he took for car payments and hotel rooms.
In a previous interview with CBS19 in May, Milton denied doing anything illegal as he had legal power of attorney and was taking care of the Browns.
“I'm always being called a thief, always taking the money. I took care of Mr. and Mrs. Brown. It’s not something I asked for, not something I sought. They brought an attorney in to give me durable power of attorney,” Milton said. “I was in charge of all of their medical care, I was in charge of all of their finances and I paid bills.”
The Browns’ son Darryl Brown said Milton left just 28 cents in his parents’ bank accounts. He has since taken guardianship over his parents, which supersedes power of attorney.
Recent court documents show that Milton was later indicted on June 22.
According to the indictments, Milton took between $30,000 and $150,000 from the East Texas Communities Foundation and Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church (now named Greater New Pleasant Hill Baptist Church) from Feb. 2, 2017 to Jan. 5, 2018.
In the indictment for the money laundering charge, Milton is accused of transferring the proceeds from theft, misapplication of fiduciary property, forgery and credit card abuse between bank accounts for just under four years (February 2017 to October 2021).
For 32 years, Milton was the pastor at Greater New Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, where he later retired. He later came out of retirement to lead the Open Door Bible Church in Tyler.
Previous police documents mentioned allegations Milton was asked to leave Greater New Pleasant Hill Baptist Church around 2018 by church membership because of “his handling of finances and other suspicious behavior on his part.”
However, Milton in a CBS19 interview said he left Greater New Pleasant Hill Baptist in better shape than it was.
In an affidavit related to Milton's October arrest, Texas Bank and Trust records for Milton showed he deposited two checks totaling $5,000 written to him from an American State Bank account named Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church.
Kermit Lane, a deacon with Greater New Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, said the church did not write Milton those checks or any since he left.
Lane said Greater New Pleasant never had a bank account with American State Bank. He also told police the check signatures were from Milton’s personal secretary while at the church, who died early last year, the affidavit read.
The affidavit shows that Lane told police the document Milton produced claiming he had authority to open bank accounts for the church was false.