Sunday, March 26, 2017

Columbus, Indiana pastor Justin White charged with insurance fraud





COLUMBUS, Ind. (WTHR) - Police say a Columbus pastor who claimed burglars broke into home while he was preaching the gospel may have broken the 9th Commandment - the one about lying.

Officers arrested Justin White Friday at his home in Columbus for insurance fraud. Investigators say the arrest is connected to the burglary report filed last December.

White told police someone burglarized his home while he was preaching at First Christian Church on a Sunday right before Christmas. He claimed that thieves got away with $11,000 in electronics, jewelry, and appliances - even his young daughter's piggy bank.

Saturday, the door closed quickly at the minister's home when Eyewitness News attempted to talk to the family again.

White had opened his home to Eyewitness News just days before Christmas, and couldn't talk enough about a so-called break-in at his Columbus home.

"My son looked up and saw that our TV was gone and he said we've been robbed," White said in December. "Then we started walking through the house and we realized they had taken so much."

Children at his church even rallied together to replace the money he claimed was stolen from his daughter's piggy bank.