John McKenzie Fires Attorney

By John Guerra

Rev. John W. McKenzie, the former pastor accused of stealing $54,000 from the Bahama Village church he once led, has fired his attorney. The name of his new attorney has not yet been announced.

 

“He fired me,” attorney Merrell Sands told Konk Life last week. “He is going to be represented by someone else.” Sands would not say why his client had dismissed him and would not comment further.

 

McKenzie’s decision comes just weeks before he is to stand trial, Jan. 13 in Key West.

Sands represented McKenzie during the discovery portion of the case, speaking for the pastor during pre-trial hearings. Sands also obtained discovery documents from Monroe County prosecutors and was forming a defense when his client dismissed him.

 

St. James Missionary Baptist Church trustees have told prosecutors that McKenzie requested and received unauthorized pay advances far in excess of the money he earned.

 

Prosecutors are looking into whether McKenzie may have used church money for a farm owned by his family. According Florida’s Division of Corporations, McKenzie is president and chairman of McKenzie Brothers Farms Inc., which was incorporated on July 31, 2012. The company’s address is 2007 Staples Ave., Key West.

 

Articles of Incorporation list other members of his family as officers: Willie J. McKenzie is listed as director; Alonzo McKenzie is vice president; and Alfred A.; James A.; and Danny L. McKenzie are officers without title.

According to prosecution documents, McKenzie’s alleged theft began in July 2011 after a financial secretary for St. James resigned her post. Being unable to perform her duties, she handed the church’s checkbook and financial records over to McKenzie for safekeeping. McKenzie then hired Jacqueline Williams as financial secretary.

Williams has allegedly refused to cooperate with investigators. “There are no statements from her, either recorded or written,” assistant prosecutor Mark Kohl wrote Konk Life in December.

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