BALTIMORE, MD — A former Anne Arundel County pastor was sentenced to five years of supervised probation after being convicted of filing a false Maryland state tax return involving $347,000 he stole from his church, the Maryland Attorney General’s Office announced.
Jerome Isaac Hurley, 44, of Pasadena, was sentenced in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court after being convicted on December 4 of willfully failing to report the stolen funds as income in 2021. The court imposed a six-month sentence, fully suspended in favor of probation.
Hurley served as pastor of Miracle Temple Church in Lothian from 2017 until October 2022. In 2020, a fire damaged the church’s parsonage, prompting an insurance claim. The church received a $350,000 payout from the insurer on March 20, 2021. Eleven days later, Hurley transferred $347,000 of that money into his personal bank account and used it for personal expenses.
Despite receiving the funds, Hurley did not report them on his 2021 tax return, leading to an unpaid tax liability of $33,595.05 to the state of Maryland.
The conviction stems specifically from the false tax return filing, separate from the underlying theft.
Attorney General Anthony G. Brown acknowledged the efforts of his Criminal Division, including Division Chief Katie Dorian and Assistant Attorney General Warren Davis. “In making today’s announcement,” the Attorney General’s Office stated, “Attorney General Brown thanked… State’s Attorney for Anne Arundel County Anne Colt Leitess for assisting with this prosecution.”