LOS ANGELES – A decade of systematic theft from a venerable Los Angeles church culminated today with a 130-month federal prison sentence for Charles Thomas Sebesta, 56, of Huntington Beach. Sebesta, the former chairman of the Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist, of Los Angeles, was also ordered to pay a staggering $11,438,213 in restitution, a fraction of the damage he inflicted on the congregation.
Sebesta’s scheme, spanning from at least August 2006 through December 2016, involved the creation of fictitious companies and the manipulation of church finances. He exploited his position as facilities manager and, later, chairman, to funnel over $11 million into accounts he controlled – his own, those of family members, and even those of a female companion. The fraud wasn’t limited to simple check forgery; Sebesta brazenly forged the signature of a church member on numerous checks, further obscuring his tracks.
The peak of Sebesta’s greed came in 2008 with the sale of church property in Hollywood for $12.8 million. Instead of utilizing these funds for the church’s benefit, he siphoned off the vast majority for personal use, including a home purchased with over $2 million in cashier’s checks. These payments were deliberately mislabeled in church records as “donations” and environmental remediation expenses paid to a phantom company called “Sky Blue Environmental.”
Beyond the property sale, Sebesta engaged in tax fraud, wiring $1.86 million and $309,622 in church funds to inflate his own tax refunds from the U.S. Treasury and the California Franchise Tax Board. He also constructed an elaborate charade, impersonating a real estate developer via a fabricated email account, to falsely portray support for himself and the church’s new location – a cynical attempt to further conceal his crimes.
Prosecutors detailed the devastating impact of Sebesta’s actions, stating he “destroyed a venerable church, its congregation, and the faith its congregants had in one another.” The stolen funds weren’t merely monetary loss; they represented a betrayal of trust that shattered the foundation of the church community. Adding insult to injury, Sebesta had previously defrauded a private high school out of $34,032 and embezzled $36,282 from a donor’s estate intended for the church.
The investigation, led by the U.S. Secret Service, revealed a meticulously planned and executed scheme driven by pure greed. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adam P. Schleifer and Valerie L. Makarewicz successfully prosecuted the case, securing a conviction and sentence that, while substantial, may offer little comfort to the members of the Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist, left reeling from Sebesta’s betrayal. Sebesta has been in federal custody since his arrest in August 2019, awaiting today’s sentencing.
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Key Facts
- Agency: U.S. Secret Service
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Press Release
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