A New York City preacher who became known as the "Bling Bishop" after getting robbed during a livestreamed sermon was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison for crimes that included scamming $90,000 from a congregant's mother.
Lamor Whitehead, 46, pleaded for mercy during a rambling monologue that failed to impress U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield, the New York Times reported.
"I don't see any remorse for your conduct," Schofield told him, according to the New York Post. "You don't seem to have an appreciation for the impact of your crimes, or, in some ways, the facts."
Whitehead was arrested about in December 2022, about five months after masked robbers interrupted a Sunday service in his Brooklyn church and stole more than $1 million worth of jewelry from him and his wife at gunpoint.
The July 24, 2022, incident was livestreamed and video of the brazen stick-up went viral.
Whitehead's sentence was imposed Monday after nurse Pauline Anderson tearfully described how he conned her out of her retirement savings by promising to buy her a home if she invested the money with him.
"I lost everything I had worked for," she said, according to the New York Times.
Anderson's son, Rasheed, also said he was "used and taken advantage of" by his former pastor.
"And because of that, every day I have to see my mother suffer because of Lamor Whitehead's deceit," he said.
In March, a jury convicted Whitehead on five counts that also covered extorting $5,000 from a businessman, submitting fraudulent loan applications to steal millions of dollars from various banks and lying to FBI agents.
Once known for his flashy jewelry and loud suits, Whitehead appeared in court Monday wearing a tan prison uniform.
That's because Schofield revoked his bond last month for violating a restraining order by making false statements about prosecutors, the FBI and his victims on social media.
