New York
Preacher goes on trial for fraud, extortion charges
NEW YORK (AP) — A Brooklyn preacher with ties to New York City Mayor Eric Adams was on trial Monday in Manhattan federal court over charges that he looted a parishioner’s retirement savings and tried to extort a businessman to fuel his lavish lifestyle.
Lamor Miller-Whitehead, 47, a Rolls Royce-driving bishop, faced the start of jury selection two years after a grand jury lodged charges against him including wire fraud, attempted wire fraud, attempted extortion and making false statements to federal law enforcement officials.
Prosecutors say he plundered a parishioner’s savings and duped a businessman with false claims that they could leverage his connections to New York City officials, including Adams, to make millions of dollars. Miller-Whitehead has pleaded not guilty.
Miller-Whitehead has been free on $500,000 bail since his arrest, which came only months after he was the victim of a robbery when $1 million in jewelry was stolen from him by gunmen who surprised him during a church service.
His lawyer, Dawn Florio, said at the time that her client felt as if he were being turned from a victim into a villain.
In charging documents, prosecutors made no mention of the friendship that Miller-Whitehead developed with the city’s mayor while he served as Brooklyn’s borough president before his election to the city’s top job.
But an evidentiary request from prosecutors suggests the mayor’s relationship with Miller-Whitehead might become a focal point at the trial. Prosecutors are seeking to require a writer for The New Yorker to testify about a January 2023 article titled, “The Mayor and the Con Man.”
Attorney Rachel Strom, who represents New Yorker staff writer Eric Lach, argued in a letter to Judge Lorna G. Schofield that prosecutors were trying to “authenticate a generic, run-of-the-mill denial” that Whitehead made about his dealings with the mayor once Adams knew he was the target of an investigation.
The judge was expected to rule before opening statements.
At a news conference last week, the mayor was asked about legal filings in the case indicating prosecutors planned to show jurors evidence that Miller-Whitehead used the name of Adams to commit fraud and attempted extortion.
Adams responded that anyone reporting about it should “quote the documents that stated that clearly he did not have authorization and there was no connectivity to the actions of (the) mayor or borough president.”
Among pretrial evidentiary rulings, the judge has agreed to exclude mention of Miller-Whitehead’s criminal conviction for identity theft and grand larceny, which resulted in a five-year prison stint, although it could be brought up if he decides to testify.
Miller-Whitehead became a religious figure when he formed the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in 2013.
Although he preaches in Brooklyn, he owns a $1.6 million home in Paramus, New Jersey, and an apartment in Hartford, Connecticut.
Monday’s trial stems from charges alleging he bilked a parishioner out of $90,000 in retirement savings by falsely promising he would find her a home and invest the rest in his real estate business. Prosecutors say he instead spent the money on luxury goods and clothing.
He also is charged with trying to convince a businessman to lend him $500,000 and give him a stake in real estate deals by claiming his ties to city officials could earn favorable treatment for the businessman’s interests.
The businessman, Brandon Belmonte, complained to federal authorities, who initiated a half-year probe in 2022 that culminated in Miller-Whitehead’s arrest.
Some of the key evidence at the trial was expected to result from secret audio recordings made of conversations between Belmonte and Miller-Whitehead.
Pennsylvania
Man who uses drones to help hunters recover deer carcasses will appeal verdict he violated laws
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania man who uses drones to try to locate wounded deer shot by hunters so they can retrieve their carcasses has been convicted of violating state hunting laws.
Joshua Wingenroth, 35, of Downingtown, plans to appeal the verdicts handed down Thursday by Lancaster County District Judge Raymond Sheller. The case apparently marked the first time anyone has been cited and tried in Pennsylvania for using a drone to recover a dead game animal and it hinged on whether Wingenroth was involved in hunting as defined by state law.
“The Legislature needs to address this,” Sheller said as he delivered his verdict. “Everyone is playing catchup to science.”
Wingenroth, who openly advertised his business in area publications, was told by state game wardens last year that such an activity was illegal, authorities said. Wingenroth, though, told them his lawyer “has a different interpretation” of the law.
On Dec. 6, an undercover game commission officer contacted Wingenroth and asked him to meet and help him find a deer he shot in the Welsh Mountain Nature Preserve. Wingenroth met the officer there within the hour and had the officer sign a waiver stating he wanted to recover the deer carcass but, if the deer was found to still be alive, he agreed to “hunt the deer another day.”
Wingenroth, who did not know the shot deer story was a fabrication and part of a sting operation, soon launched a drone and piloted it around remotely while using a thermal camera setting to show the scenery in black and white. He soon caught view of a live deer, and turned on the camera’s infrared setting to show it on a heat map.
He later turned that setting off and activated a spotlight to view the deer normally. However, he and the officer were soon approached by a game warden who confiscated the drone and cited Wingenroth for two counts of using illegal electronic devices during hunting and single counts of disturbing game or wildlife and violating regulations on recreational spotlighting.
Since the legal definition of hunting includes tracking, hunting, and recovery, authorities said Wingenroth technically used the drone to “hunt” game. He was convicted on all four counts and fined $1,500.
Wingenroth’s attorney, Michael Siddons, said his client planned to appeal the verdict. Siddons argued at trial that the state laws concerning the use of devices while hunting are “archaic,” saying they have been patched over time to cover new technologies but do not yet address the use of drones.
Siddons said if Wingenroth used the drone to locate an animal before shooting it that would have been illegal poaching, but Wingenroth instead believed there was a dead deer. He also only used a drone after hunting hours had ended and was never intending to hunt.
Preacher goes on trial for fraud, extortion charges
NEW YORK (AP) — A Brooklyn preacher with ties to New York City Mayor Eric Adams was on trial Monday in Manhattan federal court over charges that he looted a parishioner’s retirement savings and tried to extort a businessman to fuel his lavish lifestyle.
Lamor Miller-Whitehead, 47, a Rolls Royce-driving bishop, faced the start of jury selection two years after a grand jury lodged charges against him including wire fraud, attempted wire fraud, attempted extortion and making false statements to federal law enforcement officials.
Prosecutors say he plundered a parishioner’s savings and duped a businessman with false claims that they could leverage his connections to New York City officials, including Adams, to make millions of dollars. Miller-Whitehead has pleaded not guilty.
Miller-Whitehead has been free on $500,000 bail since his arrest, which came only months after he was the victim of a robbery when $1 million in jewelry was stolen from him by gunmen who surprised him during a church service.
His lawyer, Dawn Florio, said at the time that her client felt as if he were being turned from a victim into a villain.
In charging documents, prosecutors made no mention of the friendship that Miller-Whitehead developed with the city’s mayor while he served as Brooklyn’s borough president before his election to the city’s top job.
But an evidentiary request from prosecutors suggests the mayor’s relationship with Miller-Whitehead might become a focal point at the trial. Prosecutors are seeking to require a writer for The New Yorker to testify about a January 2023 article titled, “The Mayor and the Con Man.”
Attorney Rachel Strom, who represents New Yorker staff writer Eric Lach, argued in a letter to Judge Lorna G. Schofield that prosecutors were trying to “authenticate a generic, run-of-the-mill denial” that Whitehead made about his dealings with the mayor once Adams knew he was the target of an investigation.
The judge was expected to rule before opening statements.
At a news conference last week, the mayor was asked about legal filings in the case indicating prosecutors planned to show jurors evidence that Miller-Whitehead used the name of Adams to commit fraud and attempted extortion.
Adams responded that anyone reporting about it should “quote the documents that stated that clearly he did not have authorization and there was no connectivity to the actions of (the) mayor or borough president.”
Among pretrial evidentiary rulings, the judge has agreed to exclude mention of Miller-Whitehead’s criminal conviction for identity theft and grand larceny, which resulted in a five-year prison stint, although it could be brought up if he decides to testify.
Miller-Whitehead became a religious figure when he formed the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in 2013.
Although he preaches in Brooklyn, he owns a $1.6 million home in Paramus, New Jersey, and an apartment in Hartford, Connecticut.
Monday’s trial stems from charges alleging he bilked a parishioner out of $90,000 in retirement savings by falsely promising he would find her a home and invest the rest in his real estate business. Prosecutors say he instead spent the money on luxury goods and clothing.
He also is charged with trying to convince a businessman to lend him $500,000 and give him a stake in real estate deals by claiming his ties to city officials could earn favorable treatment for the businessman’s interests.
The businessman, Brandon Belmonte, complained to federal authorities, who initiated a half-year probe in 2022 that culminated in Miller-Whitehead’s arrest.
Some of the key evidence at the trial was expected to result from secret audio recordings made of conversations between Belmonte and Miller-Whitehead.
Pennsylvania
Man who uses drones to help hunters recover deer carcasses will appeal verdict he violated laws
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania man who uses drones to try to locate wounded deer shot by hunters so they can retrieve their carcasses has been convicted of violating state hunting laws.
Joshua Wingenroth, 35, of Downingtown, plans to appeal the verdicts handed down Thursday by Lancaster County District Judge Raymond Sheller. The case apparently marked the first time anyone has been cited and tried in Pennsylvania for using a drone to recover a dead game animal and it hinged on whether Wingenroth was involved in hunting as defined by state law.
“The Legislature needs to address this,” Sheller said as he delivered his verdict. “Everyone is playing catchup to science.”
Wingenroth, who openly advertised his business in area publications, was told by state game wardens last year that such an activity was illegal, authorities said. Wingenroth, though, told them his lawyer “has a different interpretation” of the law.
On Dec. 6, an undercover game commission officer contacted Wingenroth and asked him to meet and help him find a deer he shot in the Welsh Mountain Nature Preserve. Wingenroth met the officer there within the hour and had the officer sign a waiver stating he wanted to recover the deer carcass but, if the deer was found to still be alive, he agreed to “hunt the deer another day.”
Wingenroth, who did not know the shot deer story was a fabrication and part of a sting operation, soon launched a drone and piloted it around remotely while using a thermal camera setting to show the scenery in black and white. He soon caught view of a live deer, and turned on the camera’s infrared setting to show it on a heat map.
He later turned that setting off and activated a spotlight to view the deer normally. However, he and the officer were soon approached by a game warden who confiscated the drone and cited Wingenroth for two counts of using illegal electronic devices during hunting and single counts of disturbing game or wildlife and violating regulations on recreational spotlighting.
Since the legal definition of hunting includes tracking, hunting, and recovery, authorities said Wingenroth technically used the drone to “hunt” game. He was convicted on all four counts and fined $1,500.
Wingenroth’s attorney, Michael Siddons, said his client planned to appeal the verdict. Siddons argued at trial that the state laws concerning the use of devices while hunting are “archaic,” saying they have been patched over time to cover new technologies but do not yet address the use of drones.
Siddons said if Wingenroth used the drone to locate an animal before shooting it that would have been illegal poaching, but Wingenroth instead believed there was a dead deer. He also only used a drone after hunting hours had ended and was never intending to hunt.
