Mid-Michigan priest gets prison for embezzling from retired clergymen
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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Lansing-area priest has been sentenced to at least four years in prison for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from retired clergymen.
On Monday, 72-year-old David Rosenberg, from DeWitt, was sentenced to between four and 20 years behind bars and ordered to pay restitution to his victims’ estates.
According to a release from the office of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, Rosenberg took approximately $780,000 from three priests and gave those stolen funds to his charitable foundation, FaithFirst, which claims to offer ministry scholarships, help students with private school tuition and runs an urban farming and marketing co-op.
The three victims, who have all since died, lived in apartments on FaithFirst’s property in Eaton Rapids Township.
In a 2022 press release posted to FaithFirst’s website, a lawyer representing Rosenberg said he was accused of “swindling other priests to donate their money before they die.” He pushed back against that argument.
“So, what’s more reasonable: the Attorney General’s story of a mastermind manipulator who doesn’t even personally benefit from the crimes or the possibility that clergy wanted to be charitable with their earthly treasures as they contemplated the eternal? We think the latter is far more reasonable,” the lawyer’s statement reads.
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A jury disagreed, convicting Rosenberg on eight charges earlier this year, including three counts of embezzlement of $100,000 or more from a vulnerable adult, two counts of false pretenses, one count of perjury, one count of uttering and publishing and one count of larceny $20,000 or more.
“Stealing from our elderly and vulnerable adults, especially from a position of authority, is a significant crime and this sentence reflects that,” Nessel said in a statement. “My department will continue to prosecute these crimes on behalf of victims living or deceased, and it is our hope that would-be thieves and scammers see this is a serious offense that can get them years behind bars.”
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