Pastor scams ‘long-time’ friends and nonprofit out of over $230K in California, feds say
A California pastor accused of defrauding his “long-time” friends and a nonprofit out of more than $230,000 in a series of schemes was arrested last week, federal prosecutors said.
Terrance Owens Elliott, 60, who also goes by “Tony Elliott,” is charged with 11 counts of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
Elliott, of Crestline in San Bernardino County, where he’s the pastor of a San Bernardino church, was arrested March 6, according to prosecutors. The church was identified in an indictment as “Church A.”
The indictment against Elliott details his involvement in the San Bernardino community, saying he served as chaplain and citizen volunteer for the San Bernardino Police Department and on the San Bernardino Public Safety and Human Relations Commission.
He also previously ran for the San Bernardino City Council, prosecutors said. In 2022, while a city council candidate, Elliott’s legal troubles linked to fraudulent checks and debts were made public, the San Bernardino Sun reported.
Attorney information for Elliott wasn’t immediately available March 10.
According to prosecutors, Elliott caused his friends and the nonprofit linked to another church, where he was as an interim pastor. to lose about $238,563 through “several con jobs.”
Inheritance money stolen
From October 2019 to February 2023, Elliott scammed several friends, all members of the same family, while representing to them that he was acting in the capacity of a San Bernardino city government official involved with police, prosecutors said.
The scheme began when Elliott learned his friend, identified as “M.C.” was going to inherit money, according to prosecutors.
He told her to put the inheritance money “into a trust for her own benefit… because (he) claimed that she would lose her Medicare and Social Security benefits if she directly received the inheritance,” prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
Elliott then convinced her to let him create and control the trust, which he said would allow the inheritance money to go toward her financial needs, according to prosecutors.
He began stealing from the trust, after prosecutors said he “opened a bank account in the trust’s name listing only himself as a trustee.”
Elliott used the trust funds to make payments to his church in San Bernardino, according to prosecutors.
He wrote checks and wired money to the church, and also bought postal money orders to pay the church’s rent, prosecutors said.
Elliott also used money from the trust to fix a Chevrolet truck, buy Nike sneakers, clothes, a piano and an extended warranty for a motorcycle, according to prosecutors.
In addition to stealing from M.C.’s trust, he stole about $27,164 in Social Security benefits she received monthly, prosecutors said.
According to prosecutors, Elliott accessed her bank account to transfer the benefits to his church.
When her relatives questioned him about the trust and wanted to see bank statements, prosecutors said Elliott “lulled” her family “into compliance by getting upset and telling them that everything was under control.”
Under the terms of the trust, the money was allowed to be used for M.C.’s funeral costs following her death, according to prosecutors.
However, after she died, Elliott duped one of her family members, identified as “W.H.,” into paying $8,615 to cover her funeral costs, prosecutors said.
Elliott lied to W.H., telling him that a judge’s approval was needed before the trust’s funds could be used for her funeral, according to prosecutors.
He stole about $150,263 from the woman and her family, prosecutors said.
Friend scammed again
Elliott defrauded W.H. a second time, from June 2021 to February 2023, when he gave him advice on selling a house that was being rented, according to prosecutors.
He suggested to the man, who had a corporation, that his corporation should loan $65,000 to M.C.’s trust “to avoid incurring a capital gains tax liability from the sale of the house,” prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
Elliott then created a loan contract between W.H.’s corporation and M.C.’s trust and promised he’d transfer the $65,000 from his corporation’s bank account to M.C.’s trust account, according to the filing.
He told W.H. that “M.C.’s trust would repay the loan with 10% annual interest,” the indictment says.
Elliott then convinced W.H. to provide him with signed blank checks belonging to his corporation’s bank account, according to prosecutors.
Afterward, Elliott used a blank check to transfer money to his church, according to prosecutors.
“Although Elliott ultimately transferred $49,000 to the trust, he never repaid any part of the $65,000 loan,” prosecutors said. “Instead, he spent the bulk of the money on his own personal expenses.”
Nonprofit duped
In a third scheme detailed by prosecutors, from September 2018 to June 2021, Elliott defrauded a nonprofit of money that was meant for its legal expenses.
“Elliott used his preexisting relationships with Church B and its board of directors to gain a position to help manage litigation expenses and other expenses” involving the church and the nonprofit, prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
Elliott lied to the nonprofit’s board of directors, telling them that the nonprofit owed money to W.H.’s corporation for work related to a lawsuit filed against the church and nonprofit, according to the indictment.
However, Elliott was aware that the W.H.’s corporation “had performed no work on behalf of either Church B or” the nonprofit, the indictment says.
Elliott duped the nonprofit into writing 32 checks to W.H.’s corporation, then deposited the money into the corporation’s bank account, which he controlled, according to prosecutors.
Elliott is accused of defrauding the nonprofit out of $23,000.
San Bernardino public information officer Jeff Kraus told McClatchy News on March 10 that Elliott was a volunteer for the city’s human relations commission from December 2006 through 2014 and from March 2019 through March 2023.
He served as a citizen volunteer with the police department until “he separated from the department in May of 2024,” Kraus said.
If Elliott is convicted of wire fraud, he’d face up to 20 years in prison on each count, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
This story was originally published March 10, 2025 at 12:53 PM with the headline "Pastor scams ‘long-time’ friends and nonprofit out of over $230K in California, feds say."
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