Evangelist pleads guilty in Ky. fraud case

[cleanhippie]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A traveling evangelist pleaded guilty Monday to 17 counts of wire fraud in connection with church-goers who lost more than $700,000 over 15 years in an oil-and-gas investment scheme.

Ernest Cadick, 60, entered the plea as trial was set to begin in federal court, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Cadick was accused of soliciting the money for oil and gas ventures and foreign investments, then spending the money on himself.

Sentencing will be Sept. 12 before U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II.

Cadick's federal public defender declined to comment and his state public defender didn't respond to requests for comment.


http://hosted2.ap.org/KYELI/17d86d55771f487888e4caf787b1e0bd/Article_2011-06-20-Evangelist-Fraud%20Charges/id-cf9f2dc43fee483cb42773dbc8e376d3

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While this proves nothing about religion itself, can we at least agree that those who claim to be evangelical (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/evangelical) are NOT in any way, shape or form, morally or ethically superior and are MORE likely to be total hypocrites and should be dismissed as such on face value?

[Turbineguy]

1. $700,000 over 15 years?

Goldman Sachs would have fired his ass years ago.

[ejpoeta]

2. at the very least just because someone claims to be 'christian' does not mean

they are trustworthy or moral or superior ethically or anything else. it does not mean anything positive or negative with regards to their character.

[cleanhippie]

3. I agree.

But I am referring specifically to evangelicals. I think it DOES speak with regards to their character.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LeftishBrit]

5. Ugh. Hope he goes 'inside' for a long time.

No, of course not all or most evangelists are like that, but some people have been using religion as part of con tricks for a long time - after all, it's something that can work.

350 years ago, the French playwright Moliere wrote a play about just such a person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartuffe

'Tartuffe' was very popular from the beginning, but the Archbishop of Paris objected and threatened to excommunicate anyone who acted in, watched or read the play. For a while, public performances were banned, though private performances for the aristocracy continued.



I once saw a production of Richard Wilbur's translation of the play; it was excellent.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. From what I have seen of the most famous Evangelists,

it seems that many (most) of them are like this. This story is repeated in so many ways, so often, that if anyone ever throws into a sales pitch to me words "I am a Christian" or "God bless you" or some such terms to tell me how religious they are, I run. This includes politicians, but is not limited to them.

[dimbear]

6. The moral of the story is that some believers are easy to con.

It's repeated time after time, sometimes it seems like an epidemic. It may be due to a misinterpretation of a Bible verse, which in fact does not say "Fleece my sheep."

It's easy to imagine how their spiels must begin, something like "If you believe that, then.............."

but I digress. In fact this is a serious social problem which should be addressed by responsible Christians et al.