Delray Beach church official suspects pastor of embezzling money, police say in Florida

The budget committee chair of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Delray Beach suspects that the church's pastor may be embezzling money from the church, according to Delray Beach police reports.
Delray Beach police spokeswoman Sgt. Nicole Guerriero said Thursday that police were investigating the complaint.
"We are investigating but it is in the preliminary stages," Guerriero said in an email, adding that no further information was available.

The complaint is an allegation and has not resulted in any arrests or charges.
The report, made to police Feb. 25, is listed in the weekly Delray Beach incident reports.

"The Chairman of the Budget Committee suspects the church's pastor of embezzling money from the church," the report reads.
The report did not name the chairman of the budget committee. The church's website also does not say who chairs the budget committee.
"I'm not authorized to speak to anybody," said a woman who answered the phone at the church on Friday morning. She then hung up.
The Rev. Howard B. Barr Jr., a 20-year Army veteran who grew up in the church, has been pastor at St. Paul since 2007, according to the church's website.
Barr succeeded long-time pastor Rev. J.W.H. Thomas Jr., who died in 2008 after presiding over St. Paul from 1959 until 2007.
Attempts to reach the pastor for comment on Friday were not successful.
St. Paul, at 46 SW 10th St. in Delray Beach, began in Boca Raton in 1927, when a local woman held prayer meetings at her house, according to the church's website.
Those prayer meetings grew into the church, which moved to Delray Beach in 1942.