Tallahassee pastor, former nonprofit president charged with grand theft, bank fraud

J.B. Williams, a Tallahassee pastor and former chairman of a nonprofit organization that loaned money to black businesses, has been charged with defrauding two local business owners out of untold thousands of dollars.

Williams was arrested Friday and charged with grand theft of $20,000 to $100,000, criminal use of personal identification information, organized scheme to defraud over $20,000 less than $50,000, and bank fraud.

He was released on a $10,000 bond. The case was assigned to Leon Circuit Judge Francis Allman. No hearing date was set.

"We are definitely happy that the charges have been brought against him," said Nehemiah Jefferson, attorney for the victims. 

Darrell Wills and Hillard Goldsmith brought their complaint to the Tallahassee Police Department in October 2016 that they were defrauded out of thousands of dollars by Williams over a 17-year period, from January 1999 to May 2016.

"Justice is being served," Wills said. "All we ever wanted was for someone to hear us out. The most important thing to us is that he won't hurt anybody else."

They had known Williams since 1992 when they began attending his church, Abundant Living Faith Ministries. They developed a trusting relationship with Williams and referred to him as a “father figure.”

The two men told police that Williams approached them in 1999 to help manage their courier service, External Office Systems 1 Inc. Wills and Goldsmith let Williams use their signature stamps for their bank account at Regions Bank to submit payroll checks to employees, pay bills for business operations, and transfer money to their retirement savings accounts with Bank of America, the probable cause affidavit stated.

They never gave Williams authorization to withdraw funds from their Bank of America account, which they discovered years later after they'd both left Williams' church, the affidavit said.

When they went to Bank of America to review their account, they were told they no longer had access to it, the affidavit said. They alleged that Williams used Wills’ signature stamp to create documents to give him control of the Bank of America account. Williams also provided the bank with documentation to remove Wills and Goldsmith as signers on the account.

Williams also tried to get Wills to resign as officer and director of EOS-1 and relinquish control of his bank accounts to Williams. Wills never signed the documentation, he told police. However, his and Goldsmith’s account was transferred to Williams in May 2016.

A police subpoena of Bank of America produced three checks totaling $16,924 written to E.W. Beckham, Williams’ mother, Abundant Living Faith Ministries, and Fred Price. All checks had Wills’ signature stamp on them.

After a year and a half investigation, Tallahassee Police couldn't determine a loss to the victims because even though Williams used their accounts, the money he deposited from 2010 and beyond came from him. Because bank account records didn't go past 2010, the investigator couldn't establish a loss to the victims.

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"Without a loss suffered by the victims at this time, no prosecution will be done locally," the investigator concluded.

But Assistant State Attorney Eddie Evans explained the path to prosecution was because Williams used Wills and Goldsmith's unique tax identifier without their permission.

Because he didn’t remove the tax ID in making unauthorized transfers and check payments, Williams made Wills and Goldsmith liable for $28,989 in unpaid state taxes. Using the tax ID number constituted grand theft, Evans advised. Evans also said that criminal use of personal identification information and bank fraud would apply.

“With all of the above activities, the offense of Organized Scheme to Defraud over $20,000 less than $50,000 would apply,” the affidavit said.

Until last year, Williams also was president of the Northwest Florida Black Business Investment Corporation, which provides low-interest loans to emerging and expanding black businesses. 

Contact Schweers at jschweers@tallahassee.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.