TX Pastor’s Wife Sentenced to 10 Years Probation for Misapplication of Church Property
Michelle Free was involved in selling church’s property without its knowledge.
Nearly four years after indictments were issued against Randy and Michelle Free for theft of property from Cedar Cross Country Church in Alvarado, Texas, both of the Frees have been sentenced.
Randy and Michelle Free. The couple divorced in 2024.
On March 17, Michelle Free entered a plea agreement for 10 years of probation with 320 hours of community service, according to Johnson County District Attorney Timothy Good.
Her probation is a deferred adjudication and as long as she abides by the terms, Free will not have a felony conviction on her record. However, if she fails to abide by the terms or commits a new offense during the probationary period, Free could be sentenced to between five and 99 years in prison.
Good told MinistryWatch that Free had admitted to one felony charge of misapplication of fiduciary property valued at more than $300,000. In doing so, she admitted she had a duty to the church that she misused, Good said.
At the hearing, several members of the Cedar Cross Country Church were present and a few gave victim impact statements. While those statements are not publicly available, Good said they were powerful in demonstrating how hurt the church was by Free’s actions.
Good said it is powerful to realize that people’s lives are often bound up in a church like their second home, and they lose so much when something like this happens.
“It was a classic story of greed,” Good said.
According to a civil lawsuit related to the crimes, Randy Free began taking control of the church’s assets by making himself the president and registered agent for the Cedar Cross Country Church. The Frees then set up a separate non-profit corporation, Team Heritage International, in order to move the church’s assets and sell the church property, the petition claimed.
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The plaintiffs asserted that on July 2, 2021, the Frees sold the church property for somewhere between $1 million and $1.5 million to MYR Real Estate Holdings and used about $500,000 of the proceeds to purchase a house for themselves in nearby Godley.
The Frees told the congregation about the sale on July 11, excusing the delay by saying they didn’t want the congregation to be disappointed if it fell through. Church members were shocked, the petition asserted, adding that Free wouldn’t tell the congregation what had been done with the sale proceeds.
Randy Free was convicted of four first-degree felonies and sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison and 10 years of probation, to be served concurrently in December 2023.
The civil case seeking the recovery of church funds was resolved in May 2023 after the receiver was able to acquire and deposit over $1.2 million of the church’s funds with the court. The funds have now been returned to the church.
Randy and Michelle Free divorced in 2024.
Cedar Cross Country Church did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
MAIN PHOTO: EDITOR’S NOTE: Why does MinistryWatch report on financial fraud in the church? We report on them because one in three churches will be victimized, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity. We also report on them because these crimes have real victims and cost taxpayers and other stakeholders billions of dollars every year. Even small crimes in small churches have huge consequences. We also report on them to remind our readers that they do not have to be victims. There are steps you can take to prevent financial waste, fraud, and abuse in your church or ministry. To find out more, click here.
