Former Church Pastor From Mt. Hermon Indicted

United States Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that Otho Schilling (58) of Mt. Hermon, Louisiana, was indicted February 15, 2018 by a federal grand jury for Theft of Government Funds.
According to the indictment, Schilling, while the pastor of a church in Bush, between 2005-2016, required the church to pay his personal expenses, such as his health and car insurance premiums, car payments, and personal land note in lieu of the church paying him a salary directly. During this period, Schilling was receiving Retirement, Survivors and Disability Insurance (“RSDI”) from the Social Security Administration in the amount of $1,728 a month.  Schilling concealed both his earnings and employment from the Social Security Administration.   Accordingly, Schilling fraudulently received over $200,000.00 in RSDI benefits he was not entitled to due to his employment with the church.
If convicted, Schilling faces a maximum penalty of ten (10) years imprisonment, followed by up to three (3) years of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000.00, and a mandatory $100 special assessment.