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Christian News Today |
Ephesians
5:11 & Mark 4:22
Rev. Karl Strader – Senior Pastor
Carpenter’s Home Church, Lakeland, Florida
Pastor Karl Strader Is
History
One thing can be said for
Assembly of God Pastor Karl Strader of
One thing can be said for the Rev. Karl Strader -- he just refuses to go away
quietly.
Yet he still preaches twice on Sundays and has plans for new ventures,
launching a satellite preaching ministry and an Internet
"congregation."
"I feel very fulfilled . . . because I've turned the baton over to younger
men. I don't have to deal with the nuts and bolts of pastoring,"
Strader said recently in an interview.
Like a Shakespearean king or a biblical patriarch, Strader has divided the
dwindling Carpenter's
Technically, Carpenter's Home still exists as a "multisite"
church in the two locations, with Strader as an overseer or bishop. Auburndale
Life Church operates under the nonprofit charter held by Carpenter's Home,
although
Relaxing in his home not far from the sanctuary he built, Strader said he has
no regrets about selling the building to Without
O LORD my God, if I have done this: if there is
iniquity in my hands, if I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me, or
have plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue me and overtake me;
yes, let him trample my life to the earth, and lay my honor in the dust. Selah
(Psalms 7:3-5)
Roy Aldrich, a retired school teacher, who was robbed of a
100,000 by Dan and Karl Strader, knew that Karl Strader was an enemy of good
men. In January, 1995 in regard to
Pastor Karl Strader Sunday sermon on ‘Enemies’ Roy Aldrich made the following
remarks:
I would like to join the ranks of those who Karl
Straders counts as his “enemies.” by the following statements:
1) I am the enemy of lying and deception which
hurts and robs people.
2) I am the enemy of those who practice cruelty
in the administration of any corporation, especially churches.
3) I am the enemy of any minister who allows
the use of his pulpit for personal vendettas.
4) I am the enemy of any minister who uses his
pulpit for soliciting public and personal sympathy over controversial matters
involving his family.
5) I am the enemy of every minister in the world
whose sense of right and wrong is based on nepotism and favoritism.
6) I am the enemy of the policy of Karl
Strader who raised $52,000.00
for Dan’s defense fund and $58,000.00 for repairing a roof and
not one dime for his son’s elderly and devastated victims.
7) I am the enemy of the disrespect
represented in the Strader attitude towards the State Attorney and Judge Robert
Doyel, a true servant of God.
8) I am the enemy of the policies of secret
salaries which conceal huge benefits flowing from trusting church members to
their leaders- salaries which provide sumptuous life styles, while at the same
time, these same leaders are firing and traumatizing the “little people” under
their care like Cindy Deaton, Patricia Aldrich, Jack and Betty Collins.
9) I am the enemy of huge personal gain to
Karl Strader and Joe Perez derived from their secret management fees from the
10) I am the enemy of the thinking that some
claimed “anointing” or
supposed special privilege with God gives anyone the right to turn a Christian
church into their own personal “cash-cow.”
11) I am the enemy of the thinking expressed in
the attached sermon outline which implies that the welfare of CHC is determined
by any one man or family. We are supposed to worship Christ, and not the
Straders.
12) I am the enemy of any minister who uses
his oratorical ability to rally church audiences into cheerleading and other
emotional excess as a device to shore up a crumbling personal empire.
13) I am an enemy of any organization that
suggests opposing the leader’s lifestyle and words is opposing God.
Believe it or not Pastor Karl Strader actually preached on
Psalms chapter seven and made it his prayer one Sunday morning. He actually
mouthed the foolish words and asked God to do the same to him if he did evil to
others. Well, God heard and answered Karl’s prayer and his honor was laid in
the dust. And now Assembly of God Pastor Karl Strader is history!
The Assembly of God denomination unlike other denominations is
not a democratic organization. It is an old boys club made up of pastors to
support pastors. It’s hierarchy including superintendents are appointed by
pastors and not by members. Ministers instead of a church member preside over board
meetings unlike in other more democratically operated Protestant churches. Many
of its churches are owned by pastors rather than by members. In
The money that flows through the Assembly of God denomination, as well as
other denominations in
More money is embezzled from the church each year ($16 billion) than is
given to foreign missions ($15 billion) reported the newly published second
edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia. The exhaustive survey of global
Christianity contains some good news. It notes that Christianity has become
“the most extensive and universal religion in history,” with some 2 billion
adherents—one in three of the world’s population—at the start of the new
millennium.
Daniel Strader To Stay In Prison
Son of religious leader is serving a 45-year sentence for stealing $3 million from investors.
Published
By Jason Geary
The Ledger
BARTOW -- A bid for clemency by Daniel
Strader, a former insurance agent and son of a prominent
Strader, 48, has been searching for mercy since his 1995 conviction on 238 criminal charges.
He is serving a 45-year prison sentence with a scheduled release date in 2033.
In December, Karl Strader, the founder of the Carpenter's Home Church in Lakeland and father of Daniel Strader, and other supporters made their plea to aides to the state Clemency Board. They suggested Daniel Strader should be released from prison to begin repaying his victims.
But the State Attorney's Office in Bartow received a letter Tuesday from the Office of Executive Clemency in Tallahassee with news that Strader's request to waive the clemency rules to allow his case to proceed had been denied.
Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet members, who serve as the Clemency Board, denied Strader's request on Feb. 6.
"It has been the position of this office all along that his case wasn't appropriate for clemency," said Chip Thullbery, administrative assistant state attorney. "We believe the board made the correct decision."
Calls to the Governor's Office did not glean any further detail about why the board came up with its decision.
"There is not an in-depth explanation for decisions written in the files for the clemency hearings," said Russell Schweiss, a spokesman with the Governor's Office.
"The individual cases are decided by the board based upon the recommendations of the clemency office in addition to testimony and also records that are provided to the governor and Cabinet members."
Strader may not apply for another waiver for at least three years from the date the waiver was denied, according to the rules of executive clemency.
Jason Geary can be reached at 863-533-9079.
Let's be clear: Daniel Strader, the son of a prominent preacher, could have been out of jail years ago if he'd taken the option given to him in 1995: Confess to his financial scam and be sentenced to serve 14 years in prison (which would have been cut in half for good behavior) for bilking 60 investors, mostly elderly, out of more than $3 million. Many were members of a church at which his father, the Rev. Karl Strader, was pastor.
He agreed -- and then renounced his guilt, rejected the plea, and tried to convince a jury to let him go.
It is a decision that he and his family have much reason to come to regret.
After five weeks in court, the jury spent a mere three hours convicting him of 238 out of 240 counts of fraud. One juror told The Ledger he was let go on those two counts because the jury "gave him the benefit of the doubt because he had paid back their money."
Circuit Judge Bob Doyel imposed a 45-year sentence saying, "The court can have no confidence in the word of a man who is unwilling to admit his wrongdoing. The first step toward rehabilitation is an admission of guilt, so it seems unlikely Mr. Strader will ever be rehabilitated."
Now Strader's family wants Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and the state Cabinet to let Strader out of jail.
A Major Abuse of Trust
Before the governor and Cabinet members vote to give Strader a full hearing on reducing his 45-year sentence, they owe it to Strader's victims and the cause of justice generally to familiarize themselves with how badly Strader abused the trust placed in him.
Just after he agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a 14-year sentence, Dan Strader stood in the pulpit of his father's church while about 2,000 people listened.
"So what did I do wrong?" Strader, then 36, asked the congregation as a way to explain away his guilty plea. "I didn't follow through with the intricate details of every business transaction to ensure the integrity of every investment I represented."
There you have it: Sloppy bookkeeping, that's all it was. Evidently, Strader convinced himself it was exactly that. So he withdrew his plea and went to trial.
What happened to the sloppy bookkeeping defense? "The way he
answered (questions on the stand) just sort of indicated his guilt," Linda
Detwiler, a jury member from
If there had been accurate bookkeeping, it would have been embarrassing. During the trial, the former manager of a check-cashing company said Strader frequently cashed checks there in 1992 and 1993 -- so frequently that he ran up $30,000 in fees in one month. She also testified that he had given her $5,000 in tips. Other testimony showed he was going there because officials at three banks had closed his accounts because of bad checks.
After conviction, Strader tried to claim his defense lawyer wasn't competent. That may have worked if the defense lawyer had been a novice. But Jack Edmund was representing Strader. Before his death in 2002, Edmund was considered one of the best criminal defense lawyers in the state, and he advised Strader to stick to his plea bargain.
At a hearing last week in
There are trust accounts set up more than five years ago that potentially could be used to repay victims. But supporters also said a bank account related to the fund currently has only $110 in it -- the minimum needed to keep it open.
It's nothing compared with millions of dollars needed for restitution. If people are serious about wanting Strader out of jail, there should be serious money in it to make restitution for his crimes.
And then there was the $500,000 mortgage on development property. Daniel Strader's supporters said it could be an asset used to pay victims. They claimed the mortgage's validity was being questioned in an ongoing lawsuit.
But
`Earned Every Day'
State Attorney Jerry Hill, whose office prosecuted Strader, attended the hearing. He told the aides that Strader "earned every day" he served -- and will serve. For some, said Hill, there is no restitution because the victims have died. Many couldn't afford their losses, and Hill said he thought some had suffered premature deaths as a "direct result of the deceit and harm" Strader's dealings caused.
A Web site attempting to raise support for Strader's
early release notes that one of Strader's business
associates, Gary Pernice, received probation for his
part in the scam. (He was also required to spend one weekend a month for 15
years in the
The site notes Stephen Smith of
But here's the difference: Pernice, Smith and Redd all confessed to their crimes and settled for plea bargains. Pernice pleaded no contest to the charges. Smith pleaded guilty to charges involving oil and gas explorations. Redd, charged with selling bogus investments in a clinic where her husband worked, pleaded no contest and was sentenced. (She was granted a "conditional medical release" in 1998 because she had terminal cancer. She died in 2002 at age 65.)
Strader rolled the dice and went to the jury -- perhaps believing they would trust him just as much as the people who had given him money.
Members of the jury didn't buy any of Strader's excuses.
Neither should the Clemency Board.
(Published
By Thomas Roe Oldt
Supporters of imprisoned Polk con artist Daniel Strader say the 45-year sentence he received is too harsh and ought to be undone by a grant of clemency.
But State Attorney Jerry Hill feels so strongly the other way
that last week he journeyed to
Strader, who is the son of Carpenter's Home church founder the Rev. Karl Strader, was convicted in 1995 of swindling investors, many of whom were elderly and lost their life savings.
Among his petitioners was Strader's father, who asked the state clemency officials to release his son, saying he would be better able to repay his victims if not incarcerated. The imprisoned man's 16-year-old daughter also testified, saying she and her brother missed their father and wanted him home.
One can sympathize with the family tragedy the younger Strader selfishly created when he elected to steal his millions, but his family's anguish should not become a compelling reason to release him.
Strader and his supporters can talk all they want, but not everyone who lost their money to Strader is able to be heard. Some of the victims can't speak for themselves because they are dead, having expired in Strader-induced poverty.
Hill is their advocate. On Friday, he talked to The Ledger about why Strader should serve out his sentence and about the damage Strader caused his victims and society.
Though the clemency hearing focused on Strader's family, "what got us here," said Hill, "are 172 pages of charges, $3.5 million, 63 victims, 250 separate counts and a guilty verdict on each count.
"It's not as if this was a petty, poorly thought-out, one-time scam," Hill said. "Among the things you have to remember is that Danny Strader didn't make cold calls. He went to people in the church, to old friends he sold insurance to. He picked on people he knew and who trusted him. Instead of using a gun, he used trust, a smile and the confidence people had in him.
"He didn't just take a watch and a wallet," he said. "He took the trust and security from these folks, who generally were older and more vulnerable. . . . This involved people who were already close to the line financially. These were people who needed every dollar every month."
As with other clemency hearings he's attended, Hill said, he "expected to hear how he's been a counselor, a teacher, started some religious classes. There was none of that. What he's in fact done in 10 years in prison is file grievances against a judge, file appeals in every court he can find, petition the U.S. Supreme Court and complain to the Bar about every attorney involved in the case, including his own.
"His whole life is so self-centered that it has nothing to do with anything other than getting Danny out of jail," Hill said.
As for the effect on his family, "if the love of a family or the harm done to a child are grounds for releasing a felon, then we can pretty much empty the jails tomorrow," Hill said. "He created victims in his own family. That's unfortunate, but no excuse for releasing him."
Like most con artists, Strader arrogantly believed himself to be not just above the law but superior to most of the people he encountered in the legal system, including his own counsel.
What else could explain his decision to renounce, on the eve of his trial, a guilty plea that would have given him a 14-year sentence. Instead, convinced he could game the system as surely as he conned his victims out of their money, he went before a jury.
"He complains about the sentence he got," notes prosecutor Wayne Durden, "but he had his chance and gave it up."
This is a good thing for society, Durden said.
"Everybody's talking about sexual predators. Strader's a financial predator," Durden said. "Even if he were released, there would be significant restrictions on his financial capacity, so I don't know how he would pay back anybody. My concern is that others would be victimized if he were released."
Among the victims Durden remembers are "an elderly couple he hit up on Christmas Eve for tens of thousands of dollars. Strader would tell his victims anything he thought they wanted to hear in order to part them with their money. He had no scruples about what he had to do or say to get it."
Circuit Judge Robert Doyel, who presided over Strader's trial and sentenced him, noted in his sentencing report that Strader "is unwilling to acknowledge the simple truth that it was criminal for him to lie to people to get their money and then use the money for his own purposes. He evidently believes that he is above the law and that it is perfectly acceptable for him to defraud people as long as he intends eventually to pay them back."
To this day Strader has not acknowledged that "simple truth," which Doyel pointed out to the Clemency Administration in a Sept. 9 letter.
Clemency, says Hill, "is nothing more than an act of grace or mercy. Strader is entitled to exactly the same amount of clemency he granted his victims -- none."
Thomas Roe Oldt is a Winter Haven-based columnist for The Ledger. His opinion column appears on Sunday.
Published in The Ledger
By
Ledger Religion Editor
Worshipers walk past the massive building to gather in the
auditorium of
Worship services are as lively as ever, but the worshipers easily
fit in the much-smaller school auditorium. The Carpenter's Home congregation
has been worshiping there for about two years, since not long after a deal fell
through for a
Now Carpenter's Home is one step closer to having the burden of
the idle sanctuary lifted from it, although the future of
The Rev. Karl Strader, pastor of Carpenter's Home, told the congregation Sunday that the church's board has unanimously approved a contract that would sell the sanctuary to Without Walls.
Carpenter's Home would receive $8 million plus a 3,000-seat
sanctuary in Auburndale now used by Without Walls Central, a satellite of the
"We have a contract with a deposit in escrow, but there are several contingencies that must be met before closing, which must take place within 60 days. We are not done yet," he said. He did not say what the contingencies are.
As Strader outlined it, the deal calls for the Without Walls Central and Carpenter's Home congregations to exchange places, although there would be a transition period of one year during which Carpenter's Home would continue to hold worship services in Lakeland on Sundays and Wednesdays.
Without Walls Central would worship at the
Carpenter's Home would continue to own and operate Evangel for one year, Strader said, but he implied that the school's future beyond that is unclear. Referring to Evangel's principal, Mike Cooper, and Without Walls Central's pastor, Scott Thomas, Strader said, "One of the things we're hoping is that Brother Mike will get Pastor Scott to take an interest in the school so it can continue on."
Strader said the deal would enable Carpenter's Home to be free of debt and to use its resources for advertising and evangelistic outreach.
"I can't tell you what this means to me. It's a new era for us. . . . We haven't gotten behind on any bills, but we've been living on our assets the last few years and you know you can't do that," he said.
Following the service, church member Randy Baatz, who lives near the site of Without Walls Central in Auburndale, said he supported the deal.
"I want whatever God wants. It would be good to be able to pay off our debt," he said.
Without Walls International is an independent Pentecostal church that draws as many as 20,000 worshipers each week. Its pastors, Randy and Paula White, are flamboyant figures who have attracted celebrities from across the country to their services, and Paula White has a popular TV show on Christian cable channels.
The church has a wide-ranging set of ministries, from food and clothing distribution to Spanish-language programs.
Without Walls was close to a deal to purchase the Carpenter's
Home sanctuary in 2003, and the
The current deal between the churches was made public when the
Whites told the
Strader led the First Assembly of God of
About 500 people were present at two services Sunday.
In November, Carpenter's Home members approved a plan to put the sanctuary on the market and create what Strader termed a "multi-church," essentially what Without Walls has done, with multiple congregations under one name. Strader said Sunday the church had received several offers for the sanctuary and compared the process to the birth of an elephant.
"Elephants have a gestation period of 18 to 22 months, and if ever there was an elephant, it's that sanctuary," he said.
Strader thanked the worshipers for their faithfulness.
"We hope to be in at least two new locations soon. We want to be sure you go with us wherever we go. We want the best for you," he said.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050613/NEWS/506130356/1134
Family helps convicted
swindler with Web site, e-mails to governor.
By Jason Geary The Ledger jason.geary@theledger.com
BARTOW -- Daniel Strader is turning to the Internet and Gov. Jeb Bush for salvation, having
exhausted his legal appeals.
Nine years ago, a judge sentenced Strader -- son of Karl Strader, founder of
one of
In March, a federal judge denied Strader's request
for a writ of habeas corpus -- effectively ending his chance of reducing or
overturning his sentence through the courts.
So his family began a letter-writing campaign, focused on persuading Bush to
reduce his sentence.
About a month ago, the family created a Web site to jumpstart what it refers to
as a "divine intervention." See http://www.danielstrader.com/
The site includes essays from the 46year-old inmate about his divorce and
incarceration, updates on his appeals, pictures of Strader with his son and
daughter and a "Free Dan" graphic that explains the clemency process
and how to write a letter of support to Bush.
"He needs to be with his family -especially his 16-year-old son who has
leukemia," said Karl Strader, the 75year-old patriarch of Carpenter's
So far, Strader's cyberspace campaign has generated a
relatively lackluster response -- between 30 to 40 supportive letters, Karl
Strader said.
"These are people (like) presidents of Christian television
companies," he said. "They are really influential people who are
writing. They say Jeb Bush reads his e-mail, but I
don't know."
The state's Office of Executive Clemency was created in 1975 to assist
convicted felons seeking pardons and help in restoring their civil rights or to
obtain relief from punishment. The governor and members of the Cabinet serve as
the Clemency Board.
Inmates make applications to the
In the past 24 years, the office has commuted 118 sentences, according to state
records. That means the sentences were nullified or lessened.
"Post-conviction relief is a rarity," said Tim Weber, the
"Clemency is not always an easy route because it becomes political."
STRADER'S STORY
Strader's is not the story of a man with a vast
fraudulent scheme but one of a man who lied in a desperate attempt to save a
failing business, Weber said.
In his bid for clemency, Strader likely would argue that his trial lawyer, the
late Jack Edmund, provided an ineffective defense and that he was given an
unusually harsh punishment, Weber said.
The harshness of Strader's sentence already appears
to be a central element of his family's talking points and strategies.
Karl Strader described his son as a "political prisoner" who fell victim to a media blitz in the early 1990s as eager
prosecutors looked to win praise for defending the elderly.
The danielstrader.com Web site contains a detailed chart comparing other local highprofile fraud cases.
Daniel Strader's co-defendant, Georgia lawyer Gary Pernice, was sentenced to spend one weekend a month in jail
for 15 years and to pay restitution.
Another white-collar criminal convicted about the same time as Strader, Alice
Faye Redd, received a 15-year prison sentence and
served 18 months for bilking $3.6 million out of people who thought they were
investing in Watson Clinic.
However, unlike those people, Strader rejected a plea bargain offering a
14-year sentence. Instead, he went to trial and was convicted on 238 charges
-ranging from theft and conspiracy charges to securities fraud and
racketeering.
Another aspect separating Redd's case from Strader's is that Redd, who died
at age 65, received a "conditional medical release" in 1998 because
of terminal spinal cancer.
WHAT INVESTIGATORS FOUND
Assistant State Attorney Wayne Durden spent more than
a year with three investigators working full-time to unravel the complex web of
deceit in the Strader case.
Durden said Strader claimed to have been investing
money in discount mortgages, annuities, mutual funds, short-term loans,
property development -- even hot air balloons.
Instead, he cashed investors' checks and returned some money to victims as
fraudulent interest or profit in what investigators described as a classic
pyramid scheme.
"The financial hardship that he (inflicted) on these victims in the case
is enormous," Durden said.
"To this day, there is no true indication of remorse or general
acknowledgment of criminal wrongdoing. . . . Society is better off with Daniel
Strader incarcerated."
Karl Strader contends his son was an honest businessman who intended to repay
everyone.
"There are about half a dozen people involved in the investment who want
vengeance and want him to rot in prison," he said. "They are full of
hate.
"He has apologized to everyone for making mistakes in business, but he
never intended to defraud anyone," he said.
THE VICTIMS' STORIES
At Strader's trial, victims testified to being
"financially ruined" and feeling "betrayed not only by the
business community but also by the Christian community in which Mr. Daniel
Strader is held in such high regard."
Nora M. Kuppinger, 81, who retired to
When she met Daniel Strader in 1979, Kuppinger said
she thought he was a good insurance agent and was impressed with his morals.
"You have faith in a man like that because he has a big religious
background," she said.
Kuppinger said Strader assured her she would not lose
anything. She handed over $100,000. Investigators calculate she lost about
$56,000 in the scheme.
"He took me into it," Kuppinger said.
"I just felt he was so honest. Here I am a bigcity
girl from
For years, Kuppinger said she felt embarrassed and
was grateful that her husband, John, died years before the scandal broke.
"When he died, he thought that he'd taken good care of me," she said.
Kuppinger said she has tried to forget Strader's lies but does not feel he should be given
clemency.
"In this case, it was absolutely pure greed, and I have no sympathy for
him at all for what he did," she said.
Some of Strader's victims said they do not believe
they will ever see their money again. At the time of Strader's
1995 sentencing, five of his victims had already died.
Karl Strader said his son continues to maintain his innocence and wants to get
back home.
The family has managed to stay together -- calling on the telephone, writing
letters and making visits every couple of weeks to Avon Park Correctional
Facility, where Strader is incarcerated.
"We've kept close in touch, but it's like having four hurricanes in a row
-- it begins to wear on you," Karl Strader said.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041003/NEWS/410030380/1004
By Jeff Scullin, The Ledger,
BARTOW -- After nearly a decade, a federal court ruling this week all but ended Daniel Strader's appeals of his 45-year prison sentence for cheating elderly investors out of millions of dollars.
Wednesday,
U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew denied Strader's petition for a writ of habeas corpus, declining Strader's request to review his claims that the state of
Unless
Bucklew or the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
Atlanta grants Strader what is known as a certificate of appealability
-- basically, permission to appeal -- Bucklew's
decision means Strader is out of legal challenges.
"An
appeal is not automatic (because) the standard of review is fairly
strict," Assistant Attorney General Trish McCarthy, who handled Strader's case, said Friday. "From our perspective,
the case is at an end."
Tim
Weber, the St. Petersburg lawyer who represents Strader, said he thought there
were sufficient legal grounds on which to appeal Bucklew's
ruling. He said he plans to discuss an appeal with Strader and his family next
week.
If
Strader decides not to appeal or the federal courts were to deny a certificate
of appealability, Bucklew's
ruling would be the "end of the line" of Strader's
legal challenges, Weber said.
In
1995, Strader -- the son of Karl Strader, pastor of Carpenter's Home Church in
Lakeland -- was sentenced to 45 years in prison after a jury convicted him of
238 counts of theft, conspiracy, securities fraud and racketeering. He's been
in prison since August of 1995 and is currently housed at
As
president of Interstate Financial Services, Strader, 45, organized a Ponzi scheme that bilked 56 investors, most of whom were
elderly, out of $2.3 million.
Strader's
subsequent appeals and motions for post-conviction relief failed. Two years
ago, Weber filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus with the
The
petition included allegations that prosecutors had withheld evidence favorable
to Strader's case and that Strader had received
ineffective legal representation because his lawyer, the late Jack Edmund, had
not adequately prepared for trial or investigated the case.
But
the heart of Strader's allegations was that
prosecutors had coached their star witness and his former business partner,
Gary Pernice, to change his testimony about promises
they had made to him about receiving a lenient sentence in exchange for his
cooperation.
Pernice,
a former Atlanta lawyer, pleaded guilty in 1995 to felony grand theft charges
involving three of Strader's victims. He was
sentenced to spend one weekend a month in jail for the next 15 years and
ordered to pay 28 percent of his income toward restitution.
Weber
said Bucklew never addressed the allegation that
prosecutors coached Pernice, which he called
"the guts" of Strader's petition.
"We
do not feel that the court even addressed the primary argument that we made,
which is a little disconcerting," he said.
Other
than appealing Bucklew's ruling, Strader's
remaining option for lessening his sentence would be asking the governor for
clemency. Weber said he thought Strader would have a case for clemency based on
what he described as the inordinately lengthy sentence Strader received.
Strader
is scheduled to be released from prison in September 2024, according to the
Department of Corrections' Web site.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040327/NEWS/403270360/1004
The name
Strader carries weight in charismatic circles. Strader, 72, has been pastor of
Carpenters Home for 35 years and has ministered at various churches nationwide.
A Pentecostal church under the Assemblies of God denomination, Carpenters Home
has owned radio stations, hosted concerts and conferences featuring big names
in Christianity, such as evangelist Rodney Howard-Browne, gospel singer CeCe Winans and Christian music
artists Jars of Clay and Michael W. Smith reported the St. Petersburg Times.
But the past
15 years have also carried controversy. Some Assemblies of God leaders,
including televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, have publicly
questioned Strader's theological teachings, according
to the
"We've
been to hell and back," Strader said during a recent church service. About
800 of Strader's members left to form their own
church in 1989, after a dispute over his leadership.
Then in 1994, Strader's son, Daniel, was arrested on fraud charges. He
was convicted the next year and is serving a 45-year sentence in federal
prison. A small number of fraud victims were members of the church, causing
further tension. Strader said he believed his son was innocent and was treated
unfairly by the system. But his son's appeals have been denied. Strader asked
members of Without Walls to pray for his son's release, saying seven years
behind bars was enough for a "white collar crime."
At one time
membership rolls swelled to about 5,000. Strader and a jubilant congregation
had the 10,000-seat auditorium built, believing that in time it would be filled
to capacity. Instead, attendance dwindled.
Published the
Without
Inability to
agree on a price doomed the sale. Jennifer Mallan, an
associate pastor at Without Walls said Thursday the figures were confidential
but the two sides were "a couple of million dollars" apart.
In February,
negotiations reached a stalemate when the
At that time,
it appeared Without Walls would have to end the Saturday night worship services
at Carpenter's Home it had started last August. Carpenter's Home canceled a
lease agreement between the two, but then it appeared that negotiations
revived, and Without Walls continued to hold worship services until three weeks
ago.
However, Shane
Simmons, Karl Strader's son-in-law and an associate
pastor at Carpenter's Home who handled the church's negotiations, said Thursday
that Without Walls had made no new offers.
"We were
never offered anything higher than the price we turned down," he said.
Published the
Ledger
The problem with lying
and thieving preachers in
Then a man
of God came to Eli and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: 'Did I not
clearly reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in
Pharaoh's house? 'Did I not choose him
out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer upon My altar, to
burn incense, and to wear an ephod before Me? And did I not give to the house
of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? 'Why
do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My
dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with
the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?' "Therefore the LORD God of Israel says:
'I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before
Me forever.' But now the LORD says: 'Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me
I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. 1 Samuel
2:27-30
Carpenter's
Home Finances
In our local
news recently is a report that the Carpenter's Home Church, under the
leadership of Karl Strader, will be sold.
I wish The
Ledger would investigate and publish the finances of this deal. The Carpenter's
Home Church started out as an Assembly of God church before Karl Strader took
control.
I have
relatives who were members of that church since the 1940s, and they helped pay
for it.
I have visited
often in the past and heard many of Rev. Strader's
sermons. I was puzzled why he often said in his sermons that anyone who
disagreed with him should not make a fuss, just walk out the back door and
leave.
His
congregation has now dwindled down and he is left with a multimilliondollar
facility.
My relatives
left after Rev. Strader became a more-autocratic minister, there were questions
about his family being given jobs at the church and his son was convicted of
defrauding church members (mostly elderly ones) out of their life savings.
It seems to me
part of the problem is that the Assembly of God denomination allows ministers
to preside over board meetings instead of a church member, as in other more
democratically operated Protestant churches.
Nonetheless,
it was good Assembly of God people who paid for that Carpenter's Home Church
property, and any benefits from the sale should go to the Assembly of God
denomination.
The question
before the public is, will it?
TRAVIS EPSHIRE
Published The
Ledger Saturday, August 31, 2002
Strader
continues as president of the separate nonprofit corporation that operates
Carpenter's Home Estates retirement facility.
(THIS IS WHERE
HE STEALS MONEY FROM IN LEGAL MANAGEMENT FEES!)
In conversation with Strader or his supporters, the
word "integrity" comes up frequently. He clearly wants to emphasize
that, unlike other famous Pentecostal preachers who fell from grace, such as
Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart,
his personal morality has never been questioned. "I don't know a finer man
in shoe leather than Karl Strader," says Reggie Scarborough of Family
Worship Center. "He's a man of love who walked in love with people."
CARY McMULLEN Ledger Religion Editor
(The Tampa Tribune
August 10, 1995)
“People
speaking in his behalf, honorable people, believe in Mr. Strader’s
innocence. They too are victims who have been taken in by what Straders says,
rather than seeing what he is and what he has done.” Judge Doyle
“He’s
created as much damage and heartbreak and ruined as many lives as any homicide
case I’ve every seen. “ State Attorney Jerry Hill
By William R. Levesque
LAKELAND-
The Florida Department of Insurance received two complaints in 1989 that Daniel
Strader was misdirecting some of his insurance
client’s money, documents obtained by the Ledger show.
One
complaint came from Strader’s employer, the Banker’s
Life and Casualty Co. which told the state it fired him after customers raised
concerns, documents show....
According
to insurance investigators Dan Strader took funds from clients to purchase a
policy or annuity; but instead deposited the money into an Interstate account.
On May 21,1987, an 80 year old Haines city woman, wrote the insurance
department a letter stating that she gave Strader $87,000 thinking that it
would be invested in a Chicago Insurance company.
But
instead the money was deposited, without her consent, into an account controlled
by Strader’s company—Interstate Financial Services,
of which Daniel was vice-president. Strader was investigated by Banking
officials of the Florida Department of Banking and finance, but the inquiry was
closed because Strader repaid the woman.
By Williams R. Levesque
... Some people as Craddock and
Riser, knew Strader well because he was their insurance agent. Many investors
knew him as the son of a well known local pastor.
Strader
35, is the son of Karl Strader, Pastor of the Carpenter’s Home Church in north
Lakeland.
A
1979 telecommunication graduate of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla. the
younger Strader formed Interstate in 1985...
...
But Strader now operates out of an office at 222 Carpenter’s Way- The
Carpenter’s Crest condominium complex - and he no longer occupies his former
South Florida address. interstate is a general Partner in Carpenter’s Crest
Complex...
Daniel
Strader, 36 was arrested on Friday May 20, 1994, at his father’s beautiful
home, on a lake, across the street from an 18 hole golf course, for what the
State of Florida alleged that Dan did. He was the son of the Pastor and a
devout Church member of Carpenter’s Home Church. Also a former insurance
investigator and a self-made and self-proclaimed investor with a once-thriving
insurance practice.
The
State Attorney office of Florida would give a picture of a confident pitchman
whose financial world was in shambles. Interviews with investors by the media
revealed that Strader offered attractive double digit interest rates on their
so-called investments which turned out to be a sham.
The
Investors solicited by Dan Strader were
told many things about where their money was being invested, from real estate
to insurance companies or stocks or bonds, but ended up instead in a company
run by Dan Strader, Interstate Financial Services or in his personal pocket or
bank account.
All
the while, Dan Strader was telling others that he was paying the interest with
income from company owned properties. While it mainly came in from other
gullible investors who believed the Pastor’s son and this so called man of god
and graduate of Oral Roberts University who prayed with and preyed on them,
while he talked about Christ and quoted
Bible verses.
Investigators
would later show that Dan Strader’s five of the
properties he had purchased for investors with their funds, were actually in Strader’s own name. Many of his so-called investors or
victims, were his insurance clients or members of his father’s church.
Dan
and Pastor Karl Strader also told the parishioners of Carpenter’s Home Church,
Lakeland, Florida that Dan faced real threats and dangers because of threats
from his investors. Although, this was never established as a fact, by the
Straders or by the court.
Many
people in and around Lakeland, Florida, especially preachers and retired
elderly, were really upset that they were conned out of their life’s savings by
the son of a prominent Assembly of God, Pastor. Karl Strader who once told
others that his original calling was to serve God in Russia as a missionary,
and started to learn the Russian language in order to fulfill his calling. Too
bad, Karl didn’t go to Russia, so many people would have been spared the pain
and agony of knowing and working with him!
Dan
Strader said about the arrest and all the rumors that he was innocent and it
was all a misunderstanding. A theme that was replayed by Dan and his family for
the next two years.
On
Sunday, May 22,1994, Pastor Karl Strader, 64, of Carpenter Home Church in
Lakeland, Florida, paraded his complete family including in-laws in front of
the congregation and told them that the
media and government were not hearing the full story of his son’s plight.
This
circus parade of the Straders was to repeat itself over the next two years,
because the Straders thought they were special in the eyes of God and man.
Little did they know what the community around them, religious and business,
really thought and said about them. Words such as crooks, hypocrites,
Pharisees, thieves, liars and murderers and wanted nothing to do with them.
All
along the Straders couldn’t figure out why the ten thousand seat church had
only a fraction of the people, the turnover of members and adherents was the
highest of any church in the states, and church was in financial trouble all
the time.
Karl
said, he was perplexed by the picture of his son portrayed by the investigators
and in the media reports. He also stated, that they have pictured us as a part
of the family we don’t know, for his son is a warm, loving, kind, very human
person, a person who trusts God and after 36 years was caught in a web
drowning. Nothing was farther from the truth, as Karl Strader’s
spoken words were, as the mountain of evidence and testimony of real elderly
victims, would later show.
One thing about the Straders was true, they knew how to use nice oratorical words, other people and bring God into it. In their words and deeds, it was always the fault of others, but never of the Straders. They also acted and did things as though they were better an others, and stayed aloof from everybody. Pastor Karl Strader was hard to find after a church service. Even Joyce Strader, his wife, said that the Pasto