North Carolina pastor's grandson accused of embezzling $470K from church
The grandson of a pastor has been arrested and charged with allegedly stealing more than $470,000 from a church in North Carolina over the past five years for personal use.
Jordan Blake Shortridge, 28, was arrested earlier this month on the charge of felony larceny for allegedly taking approximately $470,000 from the Dallas Church of God from 2018 to 2023.
According to a statement from the Dallas Police Department, church leadership contacted authorities in July, believing they were the victims of embezzlement.
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The Church of God's accounting department found "discrepancies in the church funds" in 2021, which led to an audit of its finances that found "unknown withdraws and payments made through PayPal," according to police.
Soon after the church reported its concerns to the police, an investigation was launched, during which police detectives eventually centered on Shortridge as the primary suspect.
The church website listed Pastor D.R. Shortridge and his wife, Karen, as being involved with the ministry. The website stated that Jordan Shortridge was "very active in the church, playing the drums and working in the A/V department."
The congregation released a statement to the Charlotte, North Carolina-based news outlet Queen City News saying they are working with police.
"Dallas Church of God has been working in full cooperation with the investigating authorities. We will continue to cooperate with any requests that are made to the church for information involving this case," the church stated.
"Dallas Church of God is continuing to pray for all parties involved and has no further comment outside of this written statement."
According to a report from Lifeway Christian Resources released in March, 8% of surveyed Protestant pastors said their congregations had been victims of embezzlement.
"The misappropriation of funds is more likely when an organization lacks necessary processes so that multiple people are aware of every expenditure before it is made," said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, as quoted in the report.
"Skipping some of those safeguards and streamlining financial accountability for the sake of ministry may sound easy to justify, but it can be a costly choice for a church."
