Man who stole nearly $1.5 million from Las Vegas church gets 4 years in prison

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez

Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017 | 6:05 p.m.

A former church treasurer convicted of stealing nearly $1.5 million from his organization, bankrupting it, and committing more $500,000 in tax fraud was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison, according to the office of the U.S. attorney for the district of Nevada.

Gregory Olson, 52, of Ryder, North Dakota, pleaded guilty last year to one count of wire fraud and four counts of tax fraud, officials said. He was charged in 2012.

For three years beginning in 2006, Olson stole about $1,466,300 from the Calvary Lutheran Church, also known as the Amazing Grace Lutheran Church of Las Vegas, officials said. His scheme involved making unauthorized fund withdrawals from the organization’s bank accounts.

Among Olson’s other crimes, he falsified expense reports and borrowed funds from churchgoers, officials said. He also failed to report income for the stolen money in his tax reports.

“The defendant stole from the church and its members to satisfy his greed and he now faces a sentence of imprisonment for his calculated and callous actions,” U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said in a news release. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office and IRS will work together and aggressively pursue financial fraud and tax fraud schemes that ultimately cause harm to innocent victims and the U.S. Treasury.”