Former South Lake Christian Academy Headmaster Sentenced To Five Years

Wali Alston,

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, Jill Westmoreland Rose, announced that U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr., handed down a 5 year prison sentence today,Β for the former headmaster of a Huntersville, N.C. area parochial school charged withΒ embezzling roughlyΒ $9 million from the school and its affiliated church.

Southlake Christian Academy former headmaster, Wayne C. Parker, Jr., 57, of Mooresville,N.C., must also serve three years under court supervision following his prison release, and pay $6,606,463 as restitution in addition to the approximately $3,000,000 Parker has paid already.

In June, Parker pleaded guilty to wire fraud as part of a plea deal.

Parker was accused of defrauding the school and church out of $9,000,000 from at least 2000 until 2014 to fund a lavish lifestyle for himself and an unnamed co-conspirator.

Court documents reveal Parker used School and Church funds to cover a multitude of expenses, including but not limited to, the purchase of multiple plots of real estate; vacations around the world; luxury vehicles; luxury dining; Carolina Panthers preferred seats licenses; credit card bills; a boat and jet skis; gold and silver coins; and gifts for family and friends.

In 2010, court records show that Parker took School and Church funds to build a lake front house for nearly $1.2 million dollars. To fully fund the construction, Parker made all the School employees take a pay cut of 5%, which he claimed was due to the economy.

When the church leadership questioned Parker’s activities and called for an independent audit, Parker stole and destroyed financial records from the school to prevent authorities from discovering the nature and extent of his crimes. Β Parker also sold one of the houses that he had constructed with ill-gotten funds to one of his children, for significantly less than the home was worth, to prevent law enforcement from seizing the property.

Judge Cogburn made the following statement while issuing the sentence:

β€œThere has been a huge amount of money stolen,” and that the defendant’s actions were β€œA concentrated effort over a long period of time,” adding that these β€œDedicated teachers deserve better than what’s happened to them.”