A small town minister in Christian County has been sentenced to federal prison on bank fraud and tax offenses after he swindled an elderly parishioner with dementia out of $500,000.
Marvin Upton, 58, of Crofton, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison, according to Michael Bennett, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, following his conviction on three counts of bank fraud and three counts of filing false tax returns.
Upton was the minister at Crofton Pentecostal Church when the crimes took place. Crofton is a town of approximately 650 residents.
“The bank fraud charges arose from Upton’s scheme during the years 2013 to 2016 to defraud one of his elderly parishioners who suffered from dementia,” prosecutors said. “During that same time period, Upton also submitted multiple false tax returns which omitted income from the fraud scheme.”
Upton was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $500,000 to the victim’s estate and $222,037 in restitution to the IRS.
There is no parole in the federal system.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, the National Elder Justice Task Force and the Kentucky Elder Justice Task Force.
(Photo: Marvin Upton, courtesy of social media)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
