A plumber who was called in to take a look at a leaking toilet in Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, found way more than a loose fixture when he investigated. Instead, the man — identified as Justin — uncovered “bags and bags” of cash stashed in the bathroom walls.
“Justin said he started working on the toilet and had to remove the tile and insulation,” KRPC Channel 2 reports. “Once he removed the insulation, he discovered about 3,000 envelopes full of checks. Some had cash in it. Justin said he called the church’s maintenance supervisor and had to stay at the church for almost seven hours.”
One possible reason? Back in 2014, Lakewood got robbed of about $600,000 that was never recovered. Police searched high and low for the missing money, to no avail, and now it looks like they might have failed to check the last place anyone would ever check — the church itself.
But not all is well yet. Justin told local reporters that he hasn’t heard from Lakewood about the $25,000 reward that was offered for information about the 2014 burglary. He hasn’t even gotten a thank you. “Justin said he even called Crime Stoppers about reward money, but never heard back. He even tried reaching out to Joel Osteen but hasn’t heard back,” the station reported.
