LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Tuesday the former pastor of a Clearlake church was sentenced to prison for embezzling more than $100,000 in cash and property from the congregation.
Bruce Anthony Stark, 63, of Stockton was sentenced to three years in state prison, according to Deputy District Attorney Sharon Lerman-Hubert.
Stark reached a plea agreement with the District Attorney's Office and was sentenced to the upper term, Lerman-Hubert said.
The theft of the funds and property occurred between 2002 and 2007, while Stark served as pastor of the Hilltop Apostolic Church in Clearlake. The church's members first reported in 2008 that church property, funds and a vehicle had been stolen, according to law enforcement reports on the case.
Clearlake Police Det. Carl Stein undertook the lengthy investigation, which included interviewing more than two dozen witnesses and reviewing voluminous financial information.
Stein's work resulted in the Lake County Superior Court issuing an arrest warrant for Stark for a charge of grand theft in December 2012. The Elk Grove Police Department arrested Stark on the warrant last March.
Lerman-Hubert said the amount of money and property taken totaled more than $100,000, according to the church.
Stark was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon following the hearing and booked into the Lake County Jail.
Lerman-Hubert said a restitution hearing is scheduled for March 18. At that time, the court will determine the amount Stark will be ordered to pay to the church.
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