Minister stole money from church and spent it on gay hook-up sites

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

A married minister has been arrested for allegedly stealing $60,000 from his church – and spending some of the money buying membership to gay hook-up sites.

44-year-old Boyd Watson Holder Jr, of the Victory Apostolic Church in Tennessee, faces charges for siphoning $60,000 in funds from his church’s bank account.

Holder was arrested last week by Kingsport Police after a Sullivan County grand jury returned indictments against him, according to the Kingsport Times-News.

According to the Mirror, the minister spent some of the money on online dating – with payments to Online Buddies, who run gay hook-up sites including Manhunt and Dandy.

Reporters from a local TV channel WHJL even found a gay dating profile for the minister, which appeared to use his official church publicity photo.

The profile states: “I am a regular guy looking to try something new. Looking for a regular nice guy to get with and see where it goes.”

The minister, who is married, was previously reported to the police when he was caught having sex in a van owned by the church, while an incident occurred last year when he ejected a man from the church who he said was was “not there for the right reasons”.

Former church board member Lyle Kincheloe said: “We are glad to see justice being served.

“This upset a lot of Apostolic churches in the community. I hate it for people who believed in him.”

Holder denied all wrongdoing.

Update: This article originally referred to Holder as a priest. He is in fact not an ordained priest, but a minister.