ChristianShame.com

A Brownsville bishop was arrested Tuesday, authorities said, on charges he illegally bought a Mercedes Benz for a parishioner who is accused of making money through a prescription fraud ring.

Willie J. Jones, a longtime Miami-Dade County public works security guard, heads God’s Calling Gospel Holiness Church, 4699 NW 27th Ave.

He is charged with grand theft, sales tax fraud and applying for a false vehicle title.

Miami-Dade police say he used the church’s tax-exempt status to buy a black 2006 Mercedes CLS 500C for Janice Currington, who in turn drove the car and made payments to Jones with ill-gotten money.

She, too, was arrested Tuesday.

In August, Currington was arrested on racketeering charges. She is accused of being a ringleader in an illegal OxyContin ring that included more than 50 public employees, including school-bus drivers, janitors and corrections officers.

The alleged scam: Armed with health benefits, they would use phony prescriptions to buy cheap, unneeded OxyContin. They would sell the highly addictive painkillers to Currington and others, who presumably resold the pills on the street, police say.

Jones, 53, told The Miami Herald last month that the Mercedes was a donation to Currington.

On Tuesday, Currington’s attorney, Scott Saul, called his client’s arrest “overkill.”

He insisted the car was a gift from the church. ”She was a parishioner. She has a terminal illness,” Saul said.

The car was financed at more than $80,000.

Detectives say the scam cost the state almost $7,400 in sales taxes. Last month, Miami-Dade prosecutor Laura Uriarte sent Jones a letter saying he could avoid prosecution if he cooperated with investigators — and paid the back taxes.

The deal never materialized.

So Jones was arrested at his home Tuesday. He later posted bail before his release from jail. His arraignment is set for Nov. 18.

Cited From:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/745710.html