A North Carolina pastor has been arrested and charged with embezzlement for misusing funds donated for hurricane relief aid, adding to his criminal record that consists of financial crimes going back nearly 20 years.
In a statement Friday, the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office announced that 60-year-old Jeffrey Brian Merrow was arrested and charged with felony embezzlement and felony larceny. Merrow formerly served as pastor of Garden Creek Baptist Church.
The arrest follows a months-long investigation into the misuse of funds donated by members of his congregation to help with hurricane relief.
Members of the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office first became aware of Merrow’s alleged actions when congregants first reported concerns about “embezzlement, fraud, and theft” at the church in October, shortly after Hurricane Helene ravaged Western parts of the state.
Concerned members of the church presented law enforcement with “numerous receipts” for “goods that were never purchased or services that were never rendered, all paid for using church funds.”
“Church members also reported that large amounts of cash donations for hurricane relief, collected from attendees and the community, were handed to Merrow but never turned in for their intended use,” the sheriff’s office noted. “Additionally, community-donated items for hurricane relief such as generators, chainsaws, heaters, and more–were reported stolen.”
Hurricane Helene caused $59.6 billion in damage and led to the deaths of more than 100 people in North Carolina.
The charges of embezzlement are not the only allegations of financial misdeeds directed at Merrow. The former pastor is also on “supervised probation for Obtaining Property by False Pretense greater than $100,000” stemming from an unrelated incident.
According to the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections, Merrow has a criminal history dating back to 2006. That year, he was charged with failing to furnish buyers with a completed receipt or copy of any contract pertaining to an unspecified sale that took place in Iredell County. From October 2007 to February 2008, he was incarcerated for cheating people out of money.
The most recent aspect of Merrow’s criminal record in the state database involves larceny committed in Camden County in 2021. He was sentenced to 60 months of supervised probation.
Merrow has a YouTube channel featuring videos of his sermons at Garden Creek Baptist Church. The YouTube channel contains a link to a blog titled Answers4u2.com, which Merrow described as offering “answers to questions about Jesus, God, or the Bible” as well as “a forum to discuss and meet others.”
While the link to the blog is no longer active, an archived version of the webpage, as it appeared in early 2023, shows several posts written by Merrow in 2022. Topics included “God’s Methods for Human Growth,” the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, “What God Would Watch on TV,” entries about the Ten Commandments, the Bible and “How to Pray.”
An entry on the Blue Ridge Baptist Association’s list of member churches identifies Richard Anderson as the interim pastor of Garden Creek Baptist Church, meaning that Merrow no longer serves in the position.
