A Florida pastor and his son are accused of doing some very unholy things.
Earlier this morning, Pastor Evan Edwards and his son Josh, 30, were arrested for bilking taxpayers of $8 million in a COVID-19 relief scam. Police made the arrest at the Edwards’s home in New Smyrna Beach. The elder Evans was seen being pushed in a wheelchair.
A Florida pastor and his son have been arrested on charges of fraudulently obtaining more than $8 million in federal Covid relief funds and attempting to use some of the money to buy a luxury home near Disney World. https://t.co/fwvoPoz7XX
— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 14, 2022
The Edwards are Christian missionaries from Canada who moved to Florida in 2019. They ran an organization called ASLAN International Ministry.
According to an indictment unsealed today, Josh Edwards “submitted a fraudulent PPP loan application” on behalf of ASLAN International Ministry for $6 million, claiming their ministry had “average monthly payroll expenses” of over $2.7 million and over 480 employees. In truth, according to prosecutors, those numbers were “significantly lower, or entirely nonexistent.”
Still, back in 2020, the government ultimately approved ASLAN International for an $8.4 million loan.
Related: I Went to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud: 7 Things to Know When Taking COVID-19 Relief Money
A long investigation
The Edwards case dates back to April 2020, when investigators began to see some red flags around the loan.
For instance, the accountant the ministry allegedly used suffered from dementia and hadn’t done any work for the organization since 2017, according to an investigation by NBC News.
Later, when Florida Highway Patrol pulled over the Edwards family speeding down I-75 north, they discovered garbage bags full of shredded documents and electronic devices packed in a so-called Faraday bag, which blocks radio frequencies.
Cops also found a 49-page research manual published by the Bureau of Justice called ‘Tracing Money Flows Through Financial Institutions.’
Despite the evidence and the damning report by NBC, it took 18 months to file charges in the case.
But today, Evan Edwards and his son Josh were taken to the federal courthouse in Orlando, where they appeared before a judge. Josh Edwards appeared disoriented and refused to answer the judge’s questions, according to WESH-2 News. The judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation.
Meanwhile, the reaction in the community has been a mix of shock and indignation.
“We’re interested to hear the full story. It’s just totally out of character for a man of God, supposedly,” a cousin told NBC News.
Some neighbors were less forgiving.
“He stole money during a pandemic,” a neighbor told NBC. “He stole it in the name of God. That makes you the worst scuzz on the face of the Earth.”