HIDE YOUR PEARLS

Thieves Rob Pastor of $400K in Jewels During Live-Streamed Church Service

The pastor later said he was doing fine and defended his taste for expensive things.

A New York City pastor with a taste for luxury goods says he is doing fine after being robbed in the middle of a live-streamed service on Sunday. Footage shows Bishop Lamor Whitehead speaking at the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Canarsie, Brooklyn, when three masked gunmen suddenly storm in. “All right, all right,” Whitehead says before dropping to the ground on his hands and knees. The armed robbers stole $400,000 worth of jewelry before making their getaway. According to the New York Post, the men stole the valuable items from Whitehead, his wife, and possibly churchgoers as well. In a Facebook video afterward, Whitehead said he was “good” and that when he saw the men walk in: “I didn’t know if they wanted to shoot the church up or if they were just coming for a robbery.” Later in the video he defended his taste for expensive things: “A lot of people are going to say, ‘Why are you so flashy?’ It’s my prerogative to purchase what I want to purchase if I work hard for it.”