Cash found in bathroom walls at Joel Osteen's Houston mega-church

Houston, Texas – While working on a repair at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church, a plumber found envelopes stuffed with cash and checks in the bathroom walls.

A plumber found envelopes full of cash and checks while working a repair job at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas.
A plumber found envelopes full of cash and checks while working a repair job at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas.  © Collage: Imago/ZUMA Wire

The plumber called a Houston, Texas radio station The Bull to share his findings, and Lakewood Church later issued a statement confirming the plumber's story.

In his call to the station, Click 2 Houston reported that the plumber noted there was a loose toilet, and when they removed some tiles behind it, he couldn't believe what fell out.

"There was a loose toilet in the wall, and we removed the tile," the caller said. "We went to go remove the toilet, and I moved some insulation away and about 500 envelopes fell out of the wall, and I was like 'Oh wow!'"

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The caller said he immediately contacted the maintenance supervisor on location and turned all of his findings in.

After news broke about the plumber's findings, a representative for Lakewood Church confirmed his account of events in a statement to Raw Story that said, "Recently, while repair work was being done at Lakewood Church, an undisclosed amount of cash and checks were found."

The statement continued, "Lakewood immediately notified the Houston Police Department and is assisting them with their investigation. Lakewood has no further comment at this time."

It appears that Osteen and others at Lakewood Church are cooperating with law enforcement at this time.

The discovery of the money comes seven years after someone allegedly stole $600,000 in cash and checks from a safe at Osteen's Houston-area mega-church.

The Houston Police Department is still investigating that case, and the recent findings within the church's own bathroom walls might provide an essential piece to help investigators solve the mystery.

Cover photo: Collage: Imago/ZUMA Wire

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