Judge orders ‘Bling Bishop’ Lamor Whitehead to jail ahead of sentencing because he was found guilty of ‘crime of violence’
He’s trading Dior duds for a prison jumpsuit.
“Bling Bishop” Lamor Whitehead was sent to federal lockup Monday after a judge ruled one of his crimes — attempted extortion — required he be jailed before his sentencing, according to a law enforcement source.
Judge Lorna G. Schofield put the flashy fraudster behind bars after Manhattan federal prosecutors argued he should be locked up ahead of his July sentencing for the “crime of violence.”
“This is, in sum, a mandatory detention case,” prosecutors wrote in a May 14 filing
The decision to remand Whitehead is the latest twist in his sordid saga, which seems to be hurtling to a close after a Manhattan jury found the stylish preacher guilty in March of scamming a parishioner’s elderly mom and trying to extort money from a Bronx body shop owner to whom Whitehead promised “official favors” from Mayor Eric Adams.
Prosecutors have also said Whitehead — who was still free after being convicted of fraud, attempted extortion and lying to the FBI — flashed confidential case documents in an April 30 livestreamed service and used a Bible psalm to try to intimidate Pauline Anderson, the elderly woman whom he scammed out of $90,000.
“Touch not my anointed,” the flamboyant, 45-year-old pastor allegedly said, quoting Psalms 105 to imply that he’s beyond criticism because he’s a pastor.
The feds say his little sermon violated a restraining order, according to federal court filings.
Whitehead tried to rebut the claims in court — wearing a $3,300 outfit to the hearing May 13 — by telling the judge that he “did not willfully try to disturb any protective order.”
He also claimed he thought the case files had been unsealed after his trial.
“I didn’t know those documents would put me in this position,” he said.
His defense attorney Dawn Florio said Monday they were “deeply saddened” by the judge’s decision.
“While we respect the court’s authority, we firmly believe in Bishop Whitehead’s innocence and are committed to pursuing justice on his behalf,” Florio said in a statement.
“Bishop Whitehead plans to appeal the verdict and will continue to fight for the truth. We have full faith in the legal process and are confident that justice will ultimately prevail.”
Prosecutors said at the opening of trial that Whitehead was a “conman who told lie after lie to victim after victim.”
Whitehead, of the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Canarsie, convinced Anderson to invest her retirement money in a house he claimed he’d buy for her, then fix up.
Instead, he blew the money on personal luxuries from Louis Vuitton, Footlocker and BMW, prosecutors said.
He also tried to get body shop owner Brandon Belmonte to lend him half a million dollars in return for favors from the mayor.
Whitehead told Belmonte that Adams was a mentor, and would “do whatever I wanted,” prosecutors said.
But his constellation of lies caught up with him when the feds collared him in December 2022.
Whitehead’s sentencing was scheduled for July 1. He faces up to 85 years behind bars, according to prosecutors.
Additional reporting by Ben Kochman
