‘Bling Bishop’ Lamor Whitehead Incarcerated Pre-Sentencing After Guilty Verdict in Violent Crime Case
DEBARYLIFE – He’s exchanging his prison uniform for some Dior duds.
According to a law enforcement source, “Bling Bishop” Lamor Whitehead was placed in federal custody on Monday after a judge decided that his attempted extortion offense necessitated his incarceration before his sentencing.
The ostentatious fraudster was sent to jail by Judge Lorna G. Schofield after Manhattan federal prosecutors contended that he ought to be detained prior to his July sentencing for the “crime of violence.”
“To sum up, this case requires mandatory detention,” the prosecution stated in a petition dated May 14.
Remanding Whitehead is the most recent development in his lurid tale, which appears to be coming to an end after a Manhattan jury found the fashionable clergyman guilty in March of defrauding a churchgoer’s elderly mother and attempting to extract money from the owner of a Bronx body shop, to whom Whitehead had promised “official favors” from Mayor Eric Adams.
Additionally, according to the prosecution, Whitehead, who remained free following his conviction for fraud, attempted extortion, and lying to the FBI, flashed private case files during a livestreamed service on April 30 and attempted to intimidate Pauline Anderson, the elderly woman he defrauded of $90,000, by using a Bible psalm.
The colorful 45-year-old preacher is reported to have remarked, “Touch not my anointed,” using Psalms 105 to suggest that his position exempts him from criticism.
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Court documents from the federal government claim that he disobeyed a restraining order with his brief sermon.
Wearing a $3,300 outfit to the hearing on May 13, Whitehead attempted to refute the allegations in court by assuring the judge he “did not willfully try to disturb any protective order.”
In addition, he stated that following his trial, he believed the case files had been opened.
He remarked, “I had no idea that those documents would put me in this situation.”
Dawn Florio, his defense attorney, expressed their “deep sadness” over the judge’s ruling on Monday.
In a statement, Florio stated, “We firmly believe in Bishop Whitehead’s innocence and are committed to pursuing justice on his behalf, even though we respect the court’s authority.”
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“Bishop Whitehead will keep pursuing the truth and intends to appeal the decision. We are sure that justice will finally triumph because we have complete faith in the legal system.
At the beginning of the trial, the prosecution described Whitehead as a “conman who told lie after lie to victim after victim.”
Anderson was persuaded to invest her retirement funds in a house that Whitehead, of the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Canarsie, said he would purchase and then repair for her.
Prosecutors alleged that instead, he wasted the money on footlocker, BMW, and Louis Vuitton luxury items.
In addition, he attempted to persuade Brandon Belmonte, the owner of a body shop, to lend him $50,000 in exchange for the mayor’s favors.
Prosecutors claim that Whitehead informed Belmonte that Adams was a mentor and would “do whatever I wanted.”
But when the federal authorities apprehended him in December 2022, his web of lies finally caught up with him.
The date of Whitehead’s sentence was set for July 1. Prosecutors say he could spend up to 85 years in prison.