A plumber may have just solved a years-old crime—and the call is coming from inside the house.
A Texas plumber was going about his daily business when he was called out to look at a plumbing issue at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas.
Lakewood Church is a well-known megachurch run by Evangelical Christian televangelist Joel Osteen.
Back in 2014, Osteen announced his church had been robbed with over $600,000 taken.
Osteen, along with crime-fighting organization Crimestoppers, announced an enticing $25,000 reward for anyone who could help solve the robbery.
Almost eight years later, a plumber would be called to Lakewood to fix a plumbing issue with one of the church's toilets.
It's here the plumber would make a startling discovery.
As the man was attempting to fix the toilet, he happened to find envelopes stashed in the wall behind the toilet—envelopes containing hoards of cash and checks.
He said:
"There was a loose toilet in the wall, and we removed the tile."
“We went to go remove the toilet, and I moved some insulation away and about 500 envelopes fell out of the wall, and I was like ‘Oh wow!’”
“I went ahead and contacted the maintenance supervisor that was there, and I turned it all in."
However, despite the plumber's altruistic action of recovering and turning over the money he found, both Osteen and the Crimestoppers organization aren't as responsive as you'd think.
In fact, according to the plumber, Crimestoppers has refused to give him the $25,000 reward, citing their reward was only valid for information leading to the culprit's arrest rather than recovering the money. On top of that, Osteen hasn't even given the plumber so much as a "thank you."
Twitter users are outraged—and unsurprised—over the stashed money.
Joel Osteen taking money and hiding it in his church walls then reporting it stolen for insurance is absolutely on brand
— The Great Negro (@jiggyjayy2) December 3, 2021
What would Jesus think of Joel Osteen’s $325,000 Ferrari, his $4.4 million in PPP loans, his $10.5 million mansion, and his bags of cash & checks stashed in the bathroom wall of his megachurch in Houston?
— Andrea Junker (@Strandjunker) December 3, 2021
Good morning and Happy Friday to everyone who agrees that leaders of filthy rich mega churches like Joel Osteen who stuff the walls of their church with $350,000 in cash should be taxed.
In fact, tax ALL of the churches.
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) December 3, 2021
A plumber found bags of cash hidden in bathroom walls at Joel Osteen’s MegaChurch years after he reported a $600K burglary. He also took $4M in PPP covid loans and turned away Hurricane victims needing shelter. Osteen is a criminal grifting fraud and Churches need to be taxed.
— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) December 3, 2021
Joel Osteen is the best argument ever to TAX. CHURCHES. ALREADY.
— Andrew Wortman 🏳️🌈 (@AmoneyResists) December 4, 2021
Every day we have fresh evidence of how fraudulent evangelicals are
A plumber found bags of cash behind a toilet in Joel Osteen’s mega church
The same Osteen who took $4.4 MILLION in PPP money, turned away hurricane victims and lives lavishly
Welcome to the Gospel of Greed
— Lindy Li (@lindyli) December 4, 2021
No wonder Joel Osteen didn’t want to open the doors of his church during the flood. Wouldn’t want those pesky needy folks finding his stash. Jesus wanted him to have that new Ferrari.
— 𝐁𝐞𝐤𝐬 (@antifaoperative) December 3, 2021
Joel Osteen isn’t a Christian…he’s a liar and a thief!!!
— Andrew (@TheRealAndrew_) December 3, 2021
Who else thinks Joel Osteen should be investigated ASAP?
— Mayo (@MayoIsSpicyy) December 3, 2021
Turns out Joel Osteen is just Walter White with a pulpit.
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) December 3, 2021
I need to write about the time a group of us caught Joel Osteen lying about his massive church building being flooded due to a hurricane as a reason for turning away those who needed shelter. He then blanketed morning news after the scandal broke to do damage control. https://t.co/DKvHVtqnkX
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) December 3, 2021
Joel Osteen is a conman using religion as his vehicle to steal from people.
— Devin Nunes Mom (@NotDevinsMom) December 3, 2021
Despite being a pastor, Osteen is far from generous.
In fact, Osteen runs his church under the "prosperity gospel," meaning he pushes his parishioners to donate as much money as possible, promising them better heavenly "rewards" in the afterlife the more money they give to his church.
If that wasn't bad enough, Osteen faced nationwide outrage in 2017 after refusing to open Lakewood's doors for people fleeing from the mass flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.
It was only after all of the bad publicity that Osteen begrudgingly agreed to open his church doors to the people in need.
Osteen, being an evangelist, is also violently opposed to LGBTQ+ rights and has expressed homophobic views more than once.
In an interview with CNN in 2011, he said:
“Homosexuality is a sin—I believed it before, and I still believe it now."
As of this writing, Osteen has not responded to questions about the stashed money.
