Federal jurors found Kenneth C. Sparks III guilty on every count in a sprawling fraud case that used a Missouri church and its members to secure more than $1.2 million in COVID-19 relief loans and hundreds of thousands more in personal and auto loans.
A St. Louis jury on Wednesday convicted the 56-year-old former visiting pastor on all 20 counts tied to the scheme after roughly an hour of deliberations. The charges included one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, six counts of wire fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft and 10 counts of money laundering.
The trial, which began Monday, laid out a pattern prosecutors say unfolded over three years while Sparks was associated with Faith Walk Ministry in Paris, Missouri. Evidence and witness testimony described a systematic effort to use the church, staff and congregants to apply for loans with falsified documents and fabricated identities.
Sparks presented himself as a prophet and an apostle whose authority could not be questioned, according to prosecutors. “Kenneth Sparks impersonated God himself in order to steal millions of dollars in public funds during the worst days of the pandemic,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman told jurors in closing arguments.
Investigators say Sparks secured an initial Economic Injury Disaster Loan in his own name shortly after the pandemic began, then pushed the operation wider by collecting parishioners’ personal and banking information. Church employees allegedly filled out applications using false tax and employment records supplied by two conspirators from outside the congregation.
Prosecutors described parishioners being given scripts to use if bank officials questioned them about the loans, and being asked to open accounts at a credit union and sign blank checks. Sparks reportedly claimed the information would be used to repair credit or to pursue grants for a megachurch, while the money flowed elsewhere instead.
Documents and testimony pinned more than $1.2 million in COVID-era loan proceeds to applications filed in the names of church members and staff, with falsehoods on the forms about income and employment. About 40 fraudulent EIDL and Paycheck Protection Program loans were eventually obtained, according to the government’s case.
Financial records presented at trial show Sparks wrote $313,000 in checks to himself and took $172,000 in cash withdrawals or advances. He is also accused of spending $168,000 at luxury retailers, $127,000 on real estate and $47,000 on jewelry, which included a diamond-studded Rolex watch as part of the prosecution’s evidence.
In a separate but related scheme, prosecutors say Sparks used similar tactics to secure roughly $685,000 in personal and auto loans in his name and the names of others. Ten other defendants in the broader matter have either pleaded guilty or acknowledged responsibility, the government reported.
The investigation was handled by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and IRS Criminal Investigation, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Derek Wiseman and Karin Schute prosecuting the case. Sparks is scheduled to be sentenced on December 1.
The Department of Justice recently announced a new National Fraud Enforcement Division focused on complex financial schemes, and prosecutors noted that the division’s work aligns with broader federal efforts to curb fraud in benefit programs. That initiative was referenced during closing, with an emphasis on holding people accountable who exploit relief systems intended for hard-hit Americans.
The verdict closes the trial phase against Sparks but leaves open further proceedings for sentencing and continued prosecutions of co-conspirators. Investigators and prosecutors emphasized the human cost of the fraud as well as the dollar totals, noting how religious trust was weaponized to obtain funds at a vulnerable moment.
