He’s trading his Dior duds for a jail jumpsuit.
A law enforcement source reports that a judge sentenced “Bling Bishop” Lamor Whitehead to federal prison on Monday because one of his charges, attempted extortion, necessitated his detention before sentencing.
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Manhattan federal prosecutors argued that Judge Lorna G. Schofield should imprison the flamboyant fraudster until his July sentence for the “crime of violence.”
“This is, in sum, a mandatory detention case,” prosecutors stated in a May 14 filing.
The decision to remand Whitehead is the latest twist in his sordid saga, which appears to be coming to an end after a Manhattan jury found the stylish preacher guilty in March of defrauding a parishioner’s elderly mother and attempting to extort money from a Bronx body shop owner to whom Whitehead promised “official favors” from Mayor Eric Adams.
Prosecutors also assert that Whitehead, still at large following his conviction for fraud, attempted extortion, and lying to the FBI, leaked confidential case documents during a livestreamed service on April 30 and intimidated Pauline Anderson, the elderly woman he deceived out of $90,000.
“Touch not my anointed,” the flamboyant 45-year-old pastor allegedly stated, using Psalms 105 to indicate that he is immune from criticism because he is a pastor.
The officials claim his brief sermon violated a restraining order, according to federal court documents.
Whitehead attempted to counter the charges in court, donning a $3,300 outfit to the hearing on May 13, assuring the judge that he “did not willfully try to disturb any protective order.”
He added that they had opened the case files since his trial.
“I didn’t know those documents would put me in this position,” he stated.
His defense counsel, Dawn Florio, said Monday that they were “deeply saddened” by the judge’s decision.
“While we respect the court’s authority, we firmly believe in Bishop Whitehead’s innocence and are committed to pursuing justice on his behalf,” Florio stated in a press release.
“Bishop Whitehead intends to appeal the verdict and continue to battle for the truth. We have complete faith in the legal system and are convinced that justice will prevail.”
Prosecutors said at the start of the trial that Whitehead was a “conman who told lie after lie to victim after victim.”
Whitehead, of Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Canarsie, persuaded Anderson to invest her retirement funds in a house he promised to buy for her and then fix up.
Instead, prosecutors allege he spent the money on personal indulgences from Louis Vuitton, Footlocker, and BMW.
He reportedly attempted to persuade body shop owner Brandon Belmonte to lend him half a million dollars in exchange for favors from the mayor.
Whitehead informed Belmonte that Adams was a mentor who would “do whatever I wanted,” according to authorities.
However, his web of deceit caught up with him when the feds arrested him in December 2022.
The court set July 1 as Whitehead’s sentencing date. He faces up to 85 years in prison, according to prosecutors.
