MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A Miami Gardens pastor is facing more fraud allegations after his arrest last week.
Eric Reason, 46, is facing an organized scheme to defraud charge, a third-degree felony.
This latest charge stems from a 2019 incident in which Readon is accused of giving two bad checks to Jose Macedo who he had hired to do work on his roof. According to investigators, one of the checks bounced because it had been written on a closed bank account. Readon is accused of putting a stop payment on the other check, two days after he gave it to Macedo.
Readon, pastor of the New Beginnings Missionary Baptist Church, was arrested last week after he was accused of defrauding an elderly man out of his home.
According to investigators, Readon met a 76-year-old who was doing renovations on his home in 2015.
He reportedly convinced him to transfer 50% ownership of the property to his nonprofit in order to help him obtain a loan to complete the renovations.
Police say over the course of 18-months, Readon took full ownership of the property and, without the man’s knowledge, sold the property.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office said the total theft was about $267,000.