A Norris City man’s sentencing has been backed up once again. 58-year-old Terry Hall was originally scheduled to be sentenced on July 22nd in federal court. That date was backed up to September 9th and has now been pushed once again. Hall is now expected to be sentenced on October 28th.
This spring, the former lead pastor at Turning Point Church of God in McLeansboro pled guilty to two counts of Wire Fraud, two counts of Making False Statements, and a count of Providing False Documents. According to the indictment, Hall used his position to defraud the government out of $199,900 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act in 2020. Hall applied for and was granted an Economic Injury Disaster Loan through the United States Small Business Administration. It was on or around July 28th of 2020 when the SBA disbursed $92,900 directly to Hall’s personal bank account. In May of 2022, after Hall had requested a modified increase in the loan amount in April of 2021, he would get an additional $107,000 after convincing members of the church to wire the amount to his personal account. The indictment went on to say Hall knew all along he planned to use the full amount of the loans personally and that they wouldn’t be used to alleviate any economic injury at the church caused by the pandemic.
An individual close to the situation told WROY/WRUL News that Hall used the money to pay for lavish vacations to Africa, bear hunts in Maine, vehicles, a building on his property, and more leading to a significant financial hardship on the church. The church was home to about 250 people according to the indictment. Current church officials had no comment Tuesday afternoon.