Fayette County, Georgia -- U.S. Marshals captured a Fayette County pastor and one of his church goers in Pennsylvania after deputies charged them with stealing $30,000 from church accounts and running away together.
Kenneth Robinson and Alexis Dodson are being held the Fayette County Jail without bond.
Fayette County Sheriff's Deputy Brent Rowan said Robinson transferred the money out of Flint Ridge Baptist Church accounts and placed it in his own.
"He established a secondary account and transferred $30,000 from the church's account into his own," said Rowan. "He was then able to obtain two money orders in the amount of $15,000 each that were made out to Dodson."
Rowan said the two ran away to Bethlehem, Pa., until they were captured. He could not say what Robinson and Dodson's relationship was, but did say the two have not been cooperative with the investigation and will not say what happened to the money.
"$30,000 is a substantial amount for a small church," Rowan said. "One of the things that we want to try to do as investigators is to get this church's money back. Neither Dodson or Robinson are cooperating with the investigation, so we have no way of knowing where the money is until they talk to us."
At the Flint Ridge Baptist Church, congregation members tried to remove all traces of Robinson from the church. They even scratched his name off of the church vans.
"I feel very betrayed," said former church member Michelle Ringer, who said she left the church because of the theft. "When it came down to it, his preaching was good. It was easy to fool us."
Ringer said Robinson hadn't been pastor very long before questions arose about church finances. She also said the crime has split their once-united congregation.
"This is somebody that came in and had each one of the members going at one another," said Ringer. "That's not right. That's not a man of God."
