ANCHOR (WPLG): Now, a well-known pastor facing a judge today, accused of using his position to prey on the elderly.

TERRELL FORNEY (WPLG): And that victim, a 76-year-old man, who came to know that pastor as he led this church here, in Miami Gardens. But tonight, that pastor is under arrest, charged with 5 different felony counts; including exploitation, organized scheme to defraud, and grand theft. 

ANCHOR (WPLG): Pastor Eric Readon is now a jail inmate.

FULLER: I’m happy that Pastor Readon has been taken into custody.

ANCHOR (WPLG): Fuller has waited years for this day, accusing the pastor of grand theft.

COURT OFFICIAL: Over $267,000, your Honor. It was the man’s entire life savings in his entire home.

ANCHOR (WPLG): Prosecutors say he stole the retired senior citizen’s dream home by tricking him. 

KATHERINE FERNANDEZ-RUNDLE (MIAMI-DADE STATE ATTORNEY): You think about a man of faith. And then you think you’re dealing with a man of God. And noone like that would ever do anything, wouldn’t be a fraudster. So there might have been an, an extra built in vulnerability for Mr. Fuller.

ANCHOR (WPLG): Crime alert in Opa-locka, where one preacher is accused of preying on an elderly couple in her congregation, allegedly stealing their life savings, and their home; and she’s already out of jail.

TERREL FORNEY (WPLG): Where this church sets, tell us that they had their suspicions about the woman who presented herself as a pastor, they’ve had their suspicions for years. But according to police, she’s accused of stealing as much as $18,000 from an elderly couple and more.

ANCHOR (WPLG): 63-year-old, Yvonne Hampton-Barley, is accused of befriending an elderly couple, and using her position as a church pastor in a deceptive scheme to steal from them. An actual niece of this elderly couple actually uncovered this whole scheme a couple of years later, in 2020. And they have since rectified the situation, which of course, led to this recent arrest. We know that she’s been charged with several counts of grand theft, organized scheme to defraud, and exploiting an elderly couple, in an amount over $100,000; and she is already out on bond. Reporting live, from northwest Miami-Dade, Terrel Forney, Local 10 News.