A jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on Wednesday convicted the former visiting pastor of a Missouri church of all 20 of the counts that he faced related to his orchestration of a $1.2 million COVID-19 loan fraud scheme as well as a more than $600,000 auto and personal loan fraud scheme.
After jurors deliberated for about an hour, they found Kenneth C. Sparks III, 56, guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, six counts of wire fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft and 10 counts of money laundering.
The trial started Monday.
Evidence and testimony showed that Sparks was invited to Faith Walk Ministry in Paris, Missouri, to preach for three days. He stayed three years, all the while using the church, its employees and parishioners to launch a “full-time fraud operation,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman told jurors in closing arguments.
Sparks claimed to be a prophet and an apostle of God, whose word could not be questioned.
“Kenneth Sparks impersonated God himself in order to steal millions of dollars in public funds during the worst days of the pandemic,” Wiseman said.
Sparks first fraudulently obtained an Economic Injury Disaster Loan for himself shortly after COVID-19 hit.
He then “exploited the faith of his congregation” by asking and receiving parishioners’ personal and bank account information and using that to apply for additional loans, Wiseman said.
He also directed them to open accounts at a credit union to receive the money and had them sign blank checks. Sparks told parishioners and church employees that he would use the information to fix their credit and/or obtain grants to build a megachurch, evidence and testimony showed. About 40 fraudulent EIDL and Paycheck Protection Program loans would eventually be obtained.
In testimony Wednesday, IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent Aaron Joifrita said $1.2 million in COVID-19 loans were obtained in the name of parishioners and church employees. Loan applications contained numerous falsehoods. Church employees filled out the applications with the help of two other Sparks’ co-conspirators from outside the church who supplied false tax and employment documents.
Parishioners were also supplied with “scripts” in case they were questioned by bank officials about the loans. Just over $1 million went to Sparks, who wrote $313,000 in checks to himself and obtained $172,000 via cash withdrawals or advances in addition to spending $168,000 at luxury retailers, $127,000 on real estate and $47,000 on jewelry, including a diamond-studded Rolex watch, evidence showed.
Sparks also used many of the same methods to direct a scheme that took out $685,000 in personal and auto loans in his name and the names of others.
Sparks is scheduled to be sentenced on December 1. Ten other defendants have either pleaded guilty or accepted responsibility in the case.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Derek Wiseman and Karin Schute are prosecuting the case.
On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division. The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.
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