Pasadena Man Convicted of Failing to Pay Taxes on $347,000 He Stole While Pastoring Church in Lothian

Attorney General Anthony G. Brown has announced the sentencing of Jerome Isaac Hurley, 44, of Pasadena in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County. Mr. Hurley was convicted on December 4, 2024, for willfully filing a false Maryland State Tax Return.

The sentencing includes a six-month term of incarceration, which has been suspended, in favor of five years of supervised probation.

The details of the case indicate that from 2017 to October 2022, Mr. Hurley served as the Pastor at Miracle Temple Church in Lothian, Maryland. Following a fire at the church parsonage in 2020, Mr. Hurley filed an insurance claim on behalf of the church. Subsequently, on March 20, 2021, the insurance company paid the church \$350,000. Shortly thereafter, on March 31, 2021, Mr. Hurley misappropriated \$347,000 from the church funds, depositing it into his personal account and utilizing it for personal expenditures.

When filing his 2021 income tax return, Mr. Hurley did not declare the stolen $347,000 as income, which resulted in a failure to remit $33,595.05 in taxes to the State of Maryland.

In a separate legal matter on March 11, 2025, Mr. Hurley pleaded guilty to theft concerning the funds taken from the church, a case prosecuted by the State’s Attorney’s Office for Anne Arundel County.