A Houston-based plumber who was doing repair work at the Lakewood Church, the megachurch led by Pastor Joel Osteen, was in for a surprise when he found up to 500 envelopes filled with cash within the bathroom walls of the church.
The plumber, whose name was Justin, moved insulation behind a toilet when hundreds of envelopes came falling out.
"There was a loose toilet in the wall, and we removed the tile," Justin told DJ George Lindsey of the radio station 100.3 The Bull, as reported by CBN News. "We went to go remove the toilet, and I moved some insulation away, and about 500 envelopes fell out of the wall, and I was like, 'Oh wow!'"
The plumber immediately contacted the maintenance supervisor, who took the envelopes, which may be linked to another case from 2014, in which Lakewood Church reported up to $600,000 worth of tithes and offerings that were stolen during the weekly services on Saturday, March 8, and Sunday, March 9, 2014.
Lakewood Church issued a statement acknowledging the recent developments, sharing, "Recently, while repair work was being done at Lakewood Church, an undisclosed amount of cash and checks were found. Lakewood immediately notified the Houston Police Department and is assisting them with their investigation. Lakewood has no further comment at this time."
In 2014, Lakewood Church fell victim to theft when staffers discovered the loss of up to $600,000 worth of cash donations. They said at the time that they were "working with the police to fully investigate the incident" and that the "funds were fully insured." The church said it was working with their insurance company to recover the stolen funds.
On Friday afternoon, the Houston Police Department announced on Twitter that "Evidence from the recovered checks suggests this November case is connected to a March 9, 2014 theft report of undisclosed amounts of money at the church" and that the investigation was still ongoing, Salon reported.
Meanwhile, the plumber who made the discovery expressed disappointment when the Lakewood Church did not publicly acknowledge his role in the discovery of the hidden cash in the Lakewood megachurch. According to Click2Houston, the plumber lamented how he wanted to hear Osteen say, "'You know, Justin, what you did was right. We understand what you did and what you could have done.'"
The plumber said he listened closely to the Sunday service, in the hopes that Osteen himself would talk about his good deed. He added that he never thought of taking the money for himself. He remarked however, "I feel like, at this point, I should have heard something. I'm just a little upset."
"I didn't solve their case, but I solved very key important clues as to what could or may have happened there," the plumber reasoned, as reported by KWTX. Crime Stoppers previously offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. However, the statute of limitation for the felony theft case has expired.
Crime Stoppers Houston deputy director Nichole Christoph argued that the expiry of the reward "doesn't preclude Lakewood from giving him a reward or a combination from HPD congratulating him on doing the right thing, but unfortunately Crime Stoppers is out of the picture at that point."
