The flashy Brooklyn bishop identified for flaunting his Gucci fits, diamond-encrusted chains and steady of luxurious automobiles says it’s not his fault he was focused in a $1 million jewellery heist.
Bishop Lamor Miller-Whitehead — who’s cozy with Mayor Eric Adams and beforehand did 5 years in jail for id fraud and grand larceny — insisted on Instagram that his public shows of wealth didn’t result in Sunday’s gunpoint theft throughout his livestreamed service in Canarsie.
“It’s not about me being flashy,” stated the Rolls-Royce-driving clergyman, 44, in a video shortly after three thieves robbed him and his spouse in the course of his sermon at the Leaders of Tomorrow Worldwide Ministries.
“It’s about me buying what I need to buy. It’s my prerogative to buy what I need to buy.”
The bishop stated he can’t be blamed for standing out locally, given his standing, as critics instructed his “blinged-out’’ look may have made him an outsize goal.
“Typically whenever you’re a identified bishop, it’s a present and a curse,” Miller-Whitehead stated. “You turn into the discuss of the city.”
On the time of the theft, Miller-Whitehead and his spouse have been carrying greater than $1 million in jewels and gold.
The thieves made off with a treasure trove of things totaling $1,060,000: a $75,000 Rolex watch, a $75,000 Cavalier watch, a $25,000 Episcopal ruby and diamond ring, a $25,000 Episcopal diamond ring, a $25,000 pair of earrings, a $20,000 diamond and emerald cross, a $20,000 Episcopal ring, a $20,000 Episcopal cross and a $10,000 Episcopal gold cross.
“After I see them come into the sanctuary with their weapons, I advised all people [to] get down, all people simply get down,” Miller-Whitehead stated in considered one of two prolonged Instagram movies he posted late Sunday.
“I didn’t know in the event that they needed to shoot the church up or in the event that they have been simply coming for a theft.”
The suspects have been all carrying masks, however Miller-Whitehead stated he may see their faces.
“They took all of my spouse’s jewellery and took all of my jewellery, after which they left,” the bishop stated, mentioning that he was even robbed of his marriage ceremony band and the debacle left his congregants “traumatized.”
“Nevertheless, these younger males didn’t know that cameras have been on, and we all know what automotive you have been driving.”
The three suspects fled in a white Mercedes, Miller-Whitehead stated. He stated he noticed them change their garments within the automotive as he futilely ran after them. They're nonetheless within the wind, police stated Monday.
“So that you can kick in a church door and include weapons in the course of service — what God is gonna do to y’all is above my pay grade,’’ the bishop stated of the suspects whereas shaking his head.
Miller-Whitehead, who stated he understands the “guidelines of the streets,” known as on the general public to submit any tricks to the NYPD.
The flashy pastor has had ties to Adams since no less than 2013 and final made headlines in Might when he tried to barter the give up of an accused subway shooter and claimed to have spoken with Hizzoner whereas the suspect was on the unfastened.
He appeared at greater than a dozen high-profile occasions that Adams attended throughout Adams’ tenure as Brooklyn borough president, and in 2016, the then-BP launched Miller-Whitehead as “my good good friend and good brother” at a live performance in East Flatbush.
On the time, The Publish reported that Miller-Whitehead was buoyed by Adams’ help, which helped him promote and lift cash for Leaders of Tomorrow Brooklyn, a for-profit agency launched in 2014 that was billed as a youth mentorship nonprofit.
However the agency got here beneath scrutiny when it claimed to have partnered with the Brooklyn District Legal professional’s Workplace, the NYPD and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, organizations that claimed on the time to don't have any ties to the clergyman’s group.
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