To finance their extravagant lifestyle, the leaders of a Florida church are accused of running a multi-state money laundering scheme and enslaving dozens of victims within a packed home.
David Taylor, 53, the head of the Kingdom of God Global Church, and co-conspirator Michelle Brannon, 56, were arrested for allegedly running a forced labour scheme that raised more than $50 million since 2014.
Prosecutors said these unpaid labourers were manipulated through physical and emotional abuse to operate call centres across five states and work as Taylor’s servants.
Disturbing new documents have revealed that 57 victims were crammed inside a Tampa mansion – cut off from the outside world as they endured harsh conditions.
Pricey, human-sized stone statues kept in containers and luxury vehicles topped with gift-wrapping were also found at the mansion.
Inside the unsuspecting castle-like home, the vulnerable staff – including minors – slept on floors, were kept in the garage and had limited bathroom access, investigators said.
Taylor, 53, and Brannon, 56, allegedly withheld food and sleep from their labourers and threatened them with violence if they failed to do as they were told.
The bone-chilling plot began to unravel when they were both arrested in August.
Brannon, who resided at the massive Tampa house of horrors, was detained in Florida. Taylor was arrested in North Carolina, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
At the time, the church’s headquarters in Houston, Texas, was raided by the FBI and SWAT teams, with officers walking out 17 people, some of them handcuffed. Authorities also swarmed other centres.
Before the blitzes, Taylor allegedly told his workers: ‘They gonna be in here with their FBI jackets on… You don’t scare me. God’s gonna to get you.’
In an August press release, the department claimed the pair had been running their money laundering operation and forcing people to work across Michigan, Florida, Texas, North Carolina and Missouri.
It is unknown how many more victims were drawn into the scheme while looking for religious contentment outside of the Tampa area.
The indictment alleged Taylor declared himself an ‘Apostle’ and Brannon his executive director. Prosecutors said they had been romantically involved.
They had allegedly been operating various call centres where workers were forced to work 24-hour shifts. Others had to serve as ‘armour bearers’ for Taylor.
These ‘armour bearers’ were allegedly Taylor’s personal servants. They were at his beck and call – even delivering him women who had to take Plan B after their encounters, according to the indictment.
Taylor set unreasonable quotas for the labourers and punished them with public humiliation, abuse and forced repentance when those goals went unmet, the indictment claimed.
In one text message allegedly sent by Taylor to one of his call centre workers, he said, ‘If you don’t work, you can’t eat.’
‘POUR WATER ON EVERYONE’S FACES THAT’S HALFWAY SLEEPING AND NOT WORKING WAKE THEM UP NOW!!’ he allegedly wrote.
The money was raised under the disguise of donations to charitable causes, but investigators claimed that it had actually been used to fund Taylor and Brannon’s extravagant lifestyles.
Prosecutors said the donations went toward buying four Mercedes-Benzes, three Bentleys and a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, a luxury SUV that can retail for nearly $630,000.
Five ATVs, two trailers, and four jet skis were also purportedly purchased with the money.
‘Money laundering is tax evasion in progress,’ Special Agent in Charge Karen Wingerd of IRS Criminal Investigation of the Detroit Field Office said.
‘The proceeds funded an alleged human trafficking ring and supported a luxury lifestyle under the guise of a religious ministry.’
Despite Taylor and Brannon remaining in federal custody, the Kingdom of God Global Church is still operating its 24/7 miracle prayer line.
The church’s website, which is also still active, claims the lord has given Taylor ‘a special teaching ministry’ to bring people closer to God.
If your church leader lives in such a grand home, then he’s undoubtedly glorifying the wrong God, and so is anybody who frequents this institution.
This story’s lesson is to never put your trust in a wealthy pastor.
The practice of making false claims that something is kosher while acting in the name of or within a religion is known as religious fraud.
Using falsehoods or deceit to persuade people that one’s own religion or certain religious claims are true is known as pious fraud.
Throughout history, there have been numerous cases of religious organisations engaging in fraud. The Roman Church offered indulgences to lessen the penalty that a person would get for their transgressions.
A Florida church’s leaders were found guilty of investment fraud, and more recently, the Baptist Foundation of Arizona, the worst religious financial institution failure in US history, collapsed.
It’s hard to understand why people follow these lowlives – blatant scam artists, but people do get duped because they so badly want to believe.
To believe in God or to pray, you don’t need a church. True Christians also don’t need a church; they live out what the Bible says without having to declare their faith to others.
Nobody wakes up one day and decides to join a cult, and that is what the church is, but millions join every year, presumably because they don’t know any better.
They’re enticed with promises of all manner of spiritual transcendence, world peace, or whatever the church is ranting at the time. Save your cash and pray in the comfort of your own home.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 