NATION IN BRIEF : NORTH CAROLINA : 40-Year Prison Term Sought for Bakker
The Justice Department asked a federal judge to sentence Jim Bakker to at least 40 years in prison, saying that he “lived like a sultan” off donations from the PTL television ministry. The prosecution’s 16-page memorandum to the U.S. District Court in Charlotte, N. C., said that Bakker, 49, “told his viewers half-truths, lies and concealed the truth from them to induce them to send money.” Bakker, who founded the ministry but was forced out in a sex scandal in 1987, has been convicted on 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy. He could receive up to 120 years in prison when he is sentenced today.
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