ALBANY, N.Y. A federal court yesterday issued a $483,000 default judgment in favor of CUMIS Insurance Society against a defrocked church pastor for stealing from the credit union where he worked.
In a suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, CUMIS claimed that Jason LaPierre, who is serving a three-to-nine-year term at Mid-State Correctional Facility in nearby Marcy, N.Y., is hiding the funds he stole while working as marketing director at Hudson River Community CU.
CUMIS said LaPierre’s retention of the stolen funds violates the terms of his 2011 plea bargain, in which he agreed to pay restitution. LaPierre, 37, was a minister at the River Church in nearby Kingsbury when he stole the money over four years by forging 300 cashier’s checks used to pay credit union vendors and depositing them in his personal accounts. He told authorities he stole the money to pay bills and support his children.
