A North Carolina pastor who racked up bills on former parishioners' credit card and wrote bad checks promised to be "authentic" following the dispute.
A pastor at Embassy Church International in Greensboro, North Carolina is now seeking repentance from churchgoers after spending time in jail for failing to pay his debts. Pastor Anthony Knotts, who also owns Seafood Destiny, said that he is ready to be his "authentic" self after some time behind bars for racking up debts and issuing bad checks.
According to the Christian Post, Knotts kept using the credit card of two of his former parishioners, Ed Cobbler and his wife, Pat Lowe. Cobbler told WFMY 2 News that Knotts "kept running the [credit card] balance up and running the balance up, and it got very high."
While Cobbler and Lowe claim they've forgiven the pastor for his misgivings, they cannot ignore the hefty bill Knotts has racked up. In court papers, Cobbler and Lowe explained that while they were members of Embassy Church International in 2011, they let the 52 year old pastor use their credit card because they had become good friends with him and trusted the pastor.
"We became very close to our pastor. He was like one of our best friends," Cobbler admitted. However, Knotts failed to pay up to $50,000 in charges on the card. Ten years had gone by and the bill increased to up to $100,000, with late fees and interest charges, a legal filing said.
"I said, 'Listen, Anthony, I forgive you, but I'm not forgetting the debt. You owe the money. But as far as my heart - I forgive you,'" Cobbler was quoted in the filing. It also said that Knotts had written Cobbler and Lowe two bad checks in partial payment of his debt.
As per News & Record, Knotts did not appear for a debtor's examinations scheduled on December 13, 2021 and January 3 this year. On January 11, a judge ordered the pastor to appear in court on February 14 to explain himself, but he did not show up again. Superior Court Judge John O. Craig III then held the pastor in contempt of court and ordered his arrest.
"It just breaks my heart as to the way it's all come to this. It should have never been. It didn't have to be, but he chose it to be this way," Lowe remarked after the pastor finally showed up in court on Monday. Cobbler and Lowe said that Knotts owed them another $10,000, which he borrowed but did not pay back.
This is not the first time the pastor evaded paying his debts. A separate case filed by the Performance Food Group, which supplies food to the pastor's restaurant, is seeking over $28,000 from Knotts after he issued them bad checks.
But Knotts' lawyer, Jason L. Keith said in a statement dated March 9 that the pastor's arrest changed his life. According to the lawyer, the pastor said, "Coming into this jail was the worst experience of my life...However, what started out to be the worst experience has become a true blessing."
"I realized I hadn't been the authentic me all my life. To be honest, I didn't know how to be," Knotts lamented. "However, these last seven days there has been nobody here but me, myself and God...Totally humbling, eye-opening, but life-changing."
Knotts said that he is now on a "journey to become the authentic me" and issued an apology to Cobbler, Love, Judge Craig, and the Guilford County Court System. He also apologized to his wife and three children, as well as his immediate family. He said, "I'm sorry for any shame I may have caused you. I would also like to apologize to my church family and my Seafood Destiny family."
The statement was later removed from Keith's Instagram account, as the lawyer explained that Knotts has been released and can now speak for himself. The pastor is set to return to court later this month.
