Rev. C. J. Matthews Gets 15 Month Prison Sentence On Tax Charges From Judge Gaughan

The Rev C. J. Matthews, flanked by members of the United Pastors in Mission, prays for calm after the bodies of what would ultimately become 11 Black women were uncovered on Cleveland's east side at the Imperial Ave. home of since convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell. (Cleveland Plain Dealer online photo, www.cleveland.com)

The Rev. C. J. Matthews in happier times


U.S. District Attorney Steve Dettlebach

National political news and Cleveland area news brought to you from the
By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor
(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio-The Rev. Charles "C.J." Matthews, senior pastor at Mt. Sinai Baptist Church in Cleveland, was sentenced to 15 months in prison yesterday for failing to pay $90 thousand in IRS income taxes collected by the mega church between Oct. 2005 and Jan. 2007 on the wages of church employees.

And the sentence, which was handed down by Federal District Court Judge Patricia Gaughan, came in spite of a plethora of support from members of the Black community, many of whom wrote letters on his behalf.

They include retired U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes, and Blaine Griffin, vice chair of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party and director of the Community Relations Board for the city of Cleveland.

The courtroom was packed with supporters, including former Cuyahoga County Recorder Lillian Greene, also a retired common pleas court judge, Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals Judge Larry Jones, clergy, and Community Activist Khalid Samad, who leads Peace in the Hood.

A former assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor accused of harassing Blacks from the bench and defaming those that challenge public corruption in Cuyahoga County, Gaughan was not moved by the pleas from Black leaders to hand Matthews probation, an indication that Cleveland's Old Black Political Guard is losing its clout.

Federal prosecutors said at sentencing that Matthews had stolen more than $200 thousand from his church, which sits at E. 75th St. and Woodland Ave. in the heart of the ghetto.

Matthews, who had agreed to a plea deal, told reporters that he had done the crime and would serve his time, though Gaughan, who is White, left him little choice.

U.S. District Attorney Steve Dettlebach, who brought the charges, is said to have befriended and hung out with the popular pastor who has led the church for 23 years and is a respected Civil Rights leader, only to have turned on him later, sources say.

Also president of the United Pastors in Mission, greater Cleveland's most powerful venue of Black clergy, Matthews, 60, was urged by group members not to step down when he told them at a meeting 3 months ago of the criminal charges where he said that "I will be okay if I have to go away."

And go away he will, with a reporting date to prison that has not been made public.

Prosecutors say Matthews, who was not indicted but charged as an information because of his cooperation with federal prosecutors, used the collected tax monies that he did not hand over to the IRS for personal expenses, an allegation elevated because he and his wife own a home worth more than $500 thousand in Solon, a Cleveland suburb.

Matthews has friends, and enemies too, angering the leadership team at the Call and Post Newspaper, Cleveland's Black press, after he and the Rev Dr. Marvin McMickle, then senior pastor at Cleveland's prominent Antioch Baptist Church, publicly challenged an editorial cartoon that depicts State Sen Nina Turner (D-25), a Cleveland Democrat, as an Aunt Jemima.

The dispute with Turner and Call and Post officials, namely associate publisher and editor Connie Harper and general counsel George Forbes, who is also the long time president of the Cleveland NAACP, began brewing after the lawmaker, as the only prominent Black politician in the county, joined Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason and the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper in pushing Issue 6, a government reform measure that Cuyahoga County voters overwhelmingly approved in 2009.

The newly adopted county reform measure replaced the previously elected county sheriff, auditor, recorder, clerk of courts, coroner, treasurer, engineer and three-member board of commissioners with an elected 11-member Cuyahoga County Council and elected county executive, now Ed FitzGerald, the former mayor of Lakewood, Oh., and a former FBI agent.

Black leaders have said that Mason crafted Issue 6 with an all White team of county movers and shakers and that the county executive has too much power, and that the Mason posse gerrymandered the 11 county districts to the detriment of the Black community because only one council seat is guaranteed to be won by a Black, though four Blacks were ultimately elected with C. Ellen Connally, a retired Cleveland Municipal Court judge, subsequently elected as council president by her peers.

“They gave all the power to one White man. They gerrymandered the districts and Nina Turner was the only Black they consulted,” State Rep. Barbara Boyd (D-9) told The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com at the time the controversy was at its hottest moment and following FitzGerald's election last year. And Forbes took on Mason prior to the adoption of Issue 6 saying he could not show how Blacks would benefit with Mason saying Issue 6 is necessary because of public corruption by some of the ousted elected county officials and accusing the local NAACP president of being "disingenuous."

And the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper, did little to quash the situation, running articles and editorials that called for the community to boycott the Call and Post over the Turner fiasco, with some Black leaders saying that it was the hypocritical Plain Dealer itself that led the way in stereotypical cartoons against Blacks, Black women in particular.

Since Matthews' tax troubles were made public the Plain Dealer, at its online venue of Cleveland.com, reiterated the Aunt Jemima controversy in an article about Matthews, reigniting the fight between Ohio's largest newspaper and the state's Black press, with distributions in Columbus and Cincinnati, in addition to Cleveland, though Call and Post officials refused then and still now to honor the request by Matthews and the United Pastors in Mission to apologize to Turner. That article at Cleveland.com, however, has since been taken down.

Matthews, who has dined with presidents and other prominent movers and shakers, has a long list of community service also as a member of the the Greater Cleveland Partnership and the National Baptist Convention U.S.A Inc, chairman of Cleveland NAACP's Black Leadership Commission on Aids and board member of the local chapter of the United Way, among other activities.
Matthews and his wife Jacquelyn have four adult children and three grandchildren.

Reach Kathy Wray Coleman by email at kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, by telephone at 216-932-3114

(Editor's note: Some of the comments below were written before this article was updated and before Rev. Matthews was sentenced to 15 months in prison. The Black community prays for and supports Rev. Matthews).

Comments

Pastor Wayne D. Cox said…
Pastor C J Matthews has been an icon and a role model in this city for 25 years, I've personally looked up to him for quite a long time as a young minister. People can talk about what a preacher drives & where He lives, but never talk about all the sacrifices they make for their community, time they spend away from their families, and money they spend out of their own pockets to support the people of their community's. I think we as a city should come together in a BIG WAY and help raise some money for this man of God and His family. By way of a concert, Unity In the Community Revival or something. He deserves it and needs it at this time. Pastor Wayne D. Cox Christ Temple Baptist Church & Moderator of Union Miss. Bapt. District Association.
I DON'T UNDERSTAND THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY AND CLERGY THAT ACCEPTS WRONG DOING. WE SMOOTH SIN OVER OF THESE PREACHERS AS IF WHAT THEY DO IS OK, MISLEADING AND CONFUSING GOD'S HOUSE. THERE IS NO ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE CHURCH NOR COMMUNITY. IF YOU SAY HE HAS BEEN AN ICON OR GREAT LEADER TO THE COMMUNITY FOR YEARS THAN HE MUST APOLOGIZE TO THE COMMUNITY WHOM HE HAS OFFENDED AND LET DOWN. OF COURSE ANY OF US CAN ERROR AND FALL FROM GRACE AT ANY TIME BECAUSE WE DO HAVE A CARNAL NATURE, BUT WE MUST REMEMBER IF WE REPRESENT THE COMMUNITY WE MUST APOLOGIZE TO THE COMMUNITY. WHAT IS AN ICON? TO ME HE WASN'T THAT, HE WAS A REPRESENTATIVE OF GOD, ONE WHO IS CALLED, ORDAINED AND TO SPEAK THE TRUTH AND LIVE IT. THE BIBLE SAYS THOU SHALL NOT STEAL. GRANT IT ACCORDING TO THE REPORTS, HE WAS EXPERIENCING FINANCIAL CHALLENGES, SO WHY DIDN'T HE GO TO HIS CLERGY PIERS AND DISCUSS HIS CHALLENGES SEEKING HELP. HAD HE DONE THAT PERHAPS HE WOULD NOT BE FACING PRISON. WHAT A SCANDAL! I'VE NEVER SEEN PREACHERS MAKE SACRIFICES FOR THE COMMUNITY. LOOK AT OUR COMMUNITIES, THEY ARE RAGGEDY, POOR, DESOLATE, YOUNG FOLKS ARE CUSSING IN EVERY OTHER SENTENCE, BOYS STILL MAKING BABIES OUT OF WED LOCK, GIRLS AND BOYS ARE UNDEREDUCATED, THEY ARE NOT ROUNDED UP FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL, PARENTS ARE UNDER SERVED, ETC AND SO FORTH. BUT WHAT I DO SEE IS CLERGY MEN GETTING FATTER IN THE WALLET, LEAVING THEIR CHURCH NEIGHBORHOODS BEHIND IN DESOLATION, LIVING AS FAR AWAY FROM THE CHURCH AS POSSIBLE IN ELABORATE HOMES AND DRIVING FINE CARS.THEY ARE MAKING POLITICAL GAIN FOR OWN SELFISH DESIRES. BUT GOD PULLS THE COVER OFF IN DUE TIME. THE CHURCH NEEDS TO WAKE UP.
PASTOR WAYNE COX, I TOTALLY DISAGREE WITH YOU. I DON'T BELIEVE THE COMMUNITY SHOULD COME TOGETHER AND PAY FOR CRIME TWICE UNLESS THERE IS A CONFESSION MADE TO THE COMMUNITY FROM REV MATTHEWS. AND THEN IT WOULD BE AN INDIVIDUAL THING. YOU WANT US TO PAY IN A BIG WAY. I BELIEVE THAT WOULD BE EXTORTION OF THE CHURCH. YOU ALL SAY A WOMAN CAN'T PREACH IN THE PULPIT YET IT SEEMS TO BE OK IF THE MALE PASTOR IS CHARGED WITH THEFT OR ANY OTHER CRIME OR WRONG DOING AGAINST GOD WORD ACROSS THE PULPIT THAT IS QUICKLY FORGOTTEN WHAT I SEE IS A MIX MESSAGE AND HIPPOCRACY. BECAUSE CERTAINLY, YOU'LL FIND IN THE WORD OF GOD, THE SCRIPTURE, THOU SHALL NOT STEAL, BUT WILL NEVER FIND IN THE WORD THAT A WOMAN ISN'T CALLED TO PREACH. LET THE WOMAN BE SILENT, NO THAT AIN'T WHAT PAUL IS TALKING ABOUT, SO NOW WE MUST BE FAIR, REAL AND HONEST WHEN IT COMES TO GOD'S PEOPLE AND THE FALL OF MAN/WOMAN. FRANKLY I DON'T BELIEVE A PASTOR SHOULD LIVE A LAVISH LIFESTYLE. THE BIBLE SAYS , LET EVERYTHING BE DONE IN MODERATION. BUT IF HE DESIRES THAT LIFESTYLE AND HIS/HER SALARIES SUPPORT IT , SO BE IT. THATS BETWEEN THEM AND GOD. CLEARLY THIS MAN WAS TRYING TO BE THE JONESES. THIS ISN'T THE ONLY ACCUSATION, THE COMMUNITY HAS HEARD OF THIS MAN. YES I FORGIVE, BUT HE HAS TO BE RESPONSIBLE TOO.
Thanks for commenting but please in the future write your comments regularly rather than in capitalized words so that if I put them in an article I do not have to rewrite them. May God bless this issue for the betterment of the Black community.
Ex-member of Mt. Sinai said…
I was a member of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church for over 10 years, and I can honestly say that what Matthews did should NOT be excused, just because he holds a high status in the religious world. If anything, he should be used as an EXAMPLE to others that this kind of behavior and distrust will NOT be tolerated at all! If we(society) start giving privilege to privilege then what is the lesson taught. I was always told as a little girl, "You learn from your mistakes". Matthews is and should not be treated any differently from anybody else because of his status in the community. How hypocritical of him, now here he(Matthews) was creating this Safe Surrender Program asking for felons or those wanted by law to selfishly turn themselves in, and here he is one of the biggest LAWBREAKERS there was. How could he ask from others, when he wouldn't give himself up for the crimes he was committing behind closed doors? How HYPOCRITICAL is he! As far as the churches banning together to raise his restitution money of $90,000 dollars, how about raising $90,000 dollars to feed the hungry in Cleveland, improve our Cleveland Public Schools or even help out some of those low-income members at Mt. Sinai, like the senior citizens. But to even think about raising money to bail him out of his wrongdoing, yeah right! My God, when is the world going to uncover there eyes and see that God is revealing, and He's starting with the people that's supposed to be our church leaders. Let's wake up and stop supporting his BETRAYAL! Ex-member!
We mustn't be so quick to rattle off at the mouth..., remember the power of silence is an awesome show of force. Yesterday God put a song on my heart " I got Power Shutup in my Bones," That being said, I believe that we should exercise that power to Shutup, especially when what we say can be utterly disruptive. In spirit and in truth we worship and give thanks. The flesh is weaker than we care to admit at times. Money, for in need of it, will cause us to do some real dumb things we would be ashamed of after the test is over. I believe we will, if love is at the helm, protect our loved ones and others who are in trouble. Spiritual leaders gathered together to buffer Rev. Matthews' integrity and character from detrimental harm that can cause the body of Christ as a whole to suffer. The Separation of Church and State was not the best thing for either institution. We, the body of Christ, are in an invisible war and have been since creation of the world. We must recognize Strategic Spiritual Warfare as we discern them and look at the Big Picture...., Kill the head and the body will die. This is opportunity for Satan to round us all up, persecution started in Egypt for the Children of Isreal after Joseph died, and again after Jesus was killed, and will soon begin again after they kill the Spirit of Peace. So, hold your peace and pray a little while longer. Remember, in the Name of Jesus Christ, you have Power Shutup in your bones, all we have to do is learn to activate it and that comes from obeying the word and obeying through hearing the word of God, and Hearing the Word of God through His chosen anointed. My God is Rich, He's my father and that makes me inherent of the same. Which means I am not ashamed of what I am given for my obedience or disobedience..., and you shouldn't be either. I was lost but now I am found..., WAS, THAT IS OUR FOCAL POINT. I was poor, but now...But God, saw great faith, and NOW....Did you get that? Where was the IRS when I was broke, busted, and discussed..., when I didn't have a relationship with Christ Jesus? The devil's job is to steal, kill, and distroy. Those negative comments help perpetuate the art of stealing, killing, and distroying Kingdom Building. My momma used to say, " if you don't have anything nice to say...." You know the rest. Let's stay mindful and prayerful of this Shutup Power in our bones and watch as dry bones live again.
What a splendid analysis.

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