Missouri Minister Faces Trial Over $1.2M Church Loan Fraud, Bought $133K Mercedes

A Missouri minister known to his congregation as Apostle K.C. Sparks goes on trial today in St. Louis, accused of orchestrating a $1.2 million pandemic loan fraud scheme that prosecutors say siphoned money from his own parishioners to fund a $133,000 Mercedes, a second Mercedes worth $108,000, and designer shoes. Kenneth C. Sparks III faces 33 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, identity theft, and money laundering tied to his role as a visiting minister at Faith Walk Ministry in Paris, Missouri.

According to St. Louis Magazine, Sparks obtained parishioners' personal financial information by telling them he needed it to fix their credit scores or secure funding for the church, then allegedly used those identities to file fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program applications. The Paycheck Protection Program was established in April 2020 to help small businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic, and prosecutors say Sparks exploited it by claiming he earned $98,700 annually from a nonexistent consulting business when he applied in April 2021. He also received roughly $20,500 from a bogus PPP loan that same month and $147,900 from the Small Business Administration in July 2020, the outlet reports.

The scheme allegedly extended beyond PPP loans. According to the government, the Faith Walk Ministry fraud also involved $460,000 in bogus automobile loans, and Sparks used parishioners' PPP money in accounts of companies he controlled, per St. Louis Magazine's reporting.

Parishioners Say They Were Threatened With Curses

When members of the congregation began questioning why roughly $1 million in pandemic loan proceeds had landed in their personal Navy Federal Credit Union accounts, Sparks allegedly scolded them for questioning a “man of God” and threatened them with “curses from God,” according to court filings reported by the Credit Union Times. When Navy Federal froze several of those accounts over suspected fraud, Sparks and a co-defendant allegedly handed church members a written script of fabricated statements to read to credit union employees in order to get the funds unfrozen, the same court documents show.

Sparks was reportedly taught how to submit fraudulent PPP loan applications by Jeffrey C. Oboite, and he allegedly instructed Harold G. Long to vouch for him during the process, St. Louis Magazine reports. Terrance A. Kwade, who allegedly took a 10 percent cut of the proceeds, has since pleaded guilty to the Faith Walk Ministry fraud, as have Oboite and Long. Augustine Hardine pleaded guilty to a wire fraud conspiracy charge and is set to be sentenced next month, while Mike McClain pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and received probation.

A Codefendant Described as Manipulated

Not every defendant is accused of the same level of involvement. Javonte Long pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and pocketed $8,000 from the scheme but received probation, and his attorney said Javonte did not devise or understand the PPP and SBA loan plan. Tony Muhlenkamp described Javonte Long as a person manipulated by a smooth-talking charlatan, according to the St. Louis Magazine account.

Sparks's eligibility for pandemic relief funds in the first place is central to the government's case. According to the government, Sparks indicated on his PPP applications that he was not currently under indictment and had not been placed on parole within the previous five years — despite having been placed on parole for a felony offense in 2017 and indicted on a separate felony in 2019. The Washington Times reported that the 2019 Missouri indictment stemmed from Sparks's alleged failure to register as a sex offender after moving to the state. The Missouri State Highway Patrol sex offender registry shows Sparks was convicted in March 2018 in Dallas, Texas, for indecency with a child involving exposure to a 14-year-old victim in March 2013.

Arrest, Legal Fights, and What Comes Next

Federal officers arrested Sparks in Florida in July 2024 following the Eastern District of Missouri grand jury indictment, an investigation carried out jointly by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and IRS Criminal Investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. Since then, Sparks has filed numerous legal motions on his own behalf, including a lawsuit against the county jail where he was held. Responding to some of the government's allegations, Sparks has said, “I don't agree. I'm not being charged for that here.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case, while Joseph Hogan represents Sparks. U.S. District Judge John Ross is presiding over the trial, which began today in St. Louis, per the St. Louis Magazine report. Sparks had also applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan for Miracle Place International Church back in June 2020, the outlet notes, part of a pattern prosecutors say shows a broader effort to tap pandemic relief programs under false pretenses.

Part of a Wider Pattern in Eastern Missouri

The case lands amid sustained federal scrutiny of pandemic loan fraud across the region. Just this past April, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Missouri indicted six St. Louis-area residents for allegedly running an $8.39 million fraud ring built on fake businesses and stolen identities. And in October 2024, a St. Louis County woman was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay more than $100,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to spending PPP funds on personal luxury items.

The Faith Walk Ministry case is a small piece of a much larger national picture. The U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Inspector General estimated in a June 2023 report that more than $200 billion — roughly 17 percent of all disbursed COVID-19 EIDL and PPP funds — went to potentially fraudulent actors nationwide. As recently as April, the Small Business Administration referred 562,000 delinquent and suspected fraudulent pandemic loans worth $22.2 billion to the U.S. Department of the Treasury for collection and to the Department of Justice for prosecution, signaling that federal pursuit of pandemic-era fraud shows no sign of winding down even years after the programs closed.