TYLER, Texas — A longtime Tyler pastor and coach, who was convicted of stealing from an elderly couple and his former church in August, has been ordered to pay $70,000 back to the theft victims.
In August, Rev. Jerome Milton was sentenced to six months in the county jail and 10 years' probation. He admitted to using bank transfers and credit cards to steal from two elderly congregation members and stealing from Greater New Pleasant Hill Baptist Church (the previous church he led) and the East Texas Communities Foundation.
During a restitution hearing Tuesday, Rev. Milton was told he was to pay $30,000 to the elderly couple (the Brown family) and $40,000 to the church. The court also ordered that he pay the Brown family first.
Rev. Milton was released from county jail Tuesday and his 10 years' probation now begins.
Police documents obtained in October 2021 state Rev. Milton unlawfully took money from congregation members, Wayford and Marilyn Brown, using multiple check withdrawals and ATM transactions while he was serving as their power of attorney and finances.
The document states Milton used the funds he took for car payments and hotel rooms.
In October, Milton's son, Jerome Anthony Milton, 27, of Tyler, was sentenced to two years of deferred adjudication probation for his part in fraudulently benefiting from using elderly couple's debit cards over a seven-month period.
In the affidavit regarding Rev. Milton's arrest, the document stated the younger Milton was seen making ATM withdrawals from the elderly man’s bank account.
During his restitution hearing Tuesday, Jerome Anthony Milton was ordered to pay $1,000 to the family for the credit card abuse charge.
In a previous interview with CBS19 last year, Rev. Milton denied doing anything illegal as he had legal power of attorney and was taking care of the Browns.
The Browns’ son Darryl Brown said Rev. Milton left just 28 cents in his parents’ bank accounts.
According to the indictments, Rev. Milton also took between $30,000 and $150,000 from the East Texas Communities Foundation that was meant for the Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church (now named Greater New Pleasant Hill Baptist Church) from Feb. 2, 2017 to Jan. 5, 2018.
For 32 years, Rev. 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, where he was serving as pastor at the time of his arrest.
Previous police documents mentioned 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 2021, 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.