Ex-Pastor Stole Nearly $350K From Church: Prosecutor

PASADENA, MD — A former pastor who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from his church in Anne Arundel County got probation rather than jail time at his sentencing, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Jerome Isaac Hurley, 44, of Pasadena was the pastor of Miracle Temple Church in Lothian from 2017 until October 2022.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said the parsonage, the home owned by the church and provided for clergy, caught fire in 2020.

Brown said Hurley filed an insurance claim on behalf of the church. The insurance company paid the church $350,000 on March 20, 2021.

The attorney general said Hurley stole $347,000 from the church and deposited the money into his personal account on March 31, 2021, and used it for personal expenses.

Prosecutors said this resulted in his failure to pay $33,595.05 in taxes to the State of Maryland.

Brown said Hurley was convicted of willfully filing a false Maryland State Tax Return on Dec. 4, 2024.

The attorney general said Judge Stacy McCormack sentenced Hurley in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County to six months of incarceration, all suspended in favor of five years of supervised probation. That means Hurley will not spend any time in prison for this charge and will instead only face probation.

A press release said Hurley pleaded guilty on March 11 to theft in a separate case prosecuted by the State's Attorney's Office for Anne Arundel County related to the theft from the church.