Kenneth C. Sparks III

Introduction

Kenneth C. Sparks III is the former visiting pastor of Faith Walk Ministry in Paris, Missouri, who was convicted on August 26, 2026, of all 20 federal counts he faced for orchestrating a $1.2 million pandemic-loan fraud scheme built on his own congregation’s identities, along with a more than $600,000 auto and personal loan fraud. A jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis deliberated about an hour before finding Sparks guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, six counts of wire fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft and ten counts of money laundering. “Kenneth Sparks impersonated God himself in order to steal millions of dollars in public funds during the worst days of the pandemic,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman told jurors.

Background Information

Sparks arrived at Faith Walk Ministry, a small church in Paris, Missouri, as a visiting pastor invited to preach for three days — and stayed three years, according to the evidence and testimony at his trial. During that time, prosecutors said, he used the church, its employees and its parishioners to launch what the government called a “full-time fraud operation.” Sparks claimed to be a prophet and an apostle of God whose word could not be questioned, and he first fraudulently obtained an Economic Injury Disaster Loan for himself shortly after the pandemic hit.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Jury conviction. The facts below come from trial evidence and testimony summarized by federal prosecutors after the August 26, 2026 verdict; the counts were found by a jury and Sparks is awaiting sentencing.

Sparks then turned the congregation itself into raw material for the scheme. He “exploited the faith of his congregation” by collecting parishioners’ personal and bank account information, using it to apply for additional loans, directing them to open accounts at a credit union to receive the money, and having them sign blank checks. He told parishioners and church employees the information would be used to fix their credit or obtain grants to build a megachurch. About 40 fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection Program applications were ultimately obtained; IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent Aaron Joifrita testified that $1.2 million in pandemic loans were taken out in the names of parishioners and church employees, with applications containing numerous falsehoods and filled out by church employees with help from two of Sparks’s co-conspirators outside the church who supplied false tax and employment documents. Parishioners were even given “scripts” to use if bank officials questioned them about the loans.

Just over $1 million of the pandemic-loan proceeds went to Sparks himself, prosecutors said: $313,000 written in checks to himself, $172,000 obtained through cash withdrawals or advances, $168,000 spent at luxury retailers, $127,000 on real estate, and $47,000 on jewelry — including a diamond-studded Rolex watch. The jury also found he used the same methods to direct a second scheme that took out $685,000 in personal and auto loans in his name and the names of others.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The verdict closed a trial that began on a Monday and ended two days later with about an hour of jury deliberation — a speed that underscored how completely the documentary record, from the loan files to the blank checks, matched the government’s story. Ten other defendants have either pleaded guilty or accepted responsibility in the case. The prosecution was carried by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Derek Wiseman and Karin Schute, with IRS Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigating.

Current Status

Sparks is scheduled to be sentenced on December 1, 2026, and now stands convicted of all 20 counts: one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, six counts of wire fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft and ten counts of money laundering. The aggravated-identity-theft counts each carry mandatory consecutive terms under federal law, meaning the December sentencing will layer prison terms on top of one another; the total exposure was not stated in the announcement.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Sparks’s religious career is ended by a fraud conviction whose victims were the congregation that took him in: the parishioners whose identities anchored the loan files, the employees who filled out applications under his direction, and the church that hosted a “prophet” whose word, he told them, could not be questioned. The case stands as a stark pandemic-era example of faith-based financial exploitation prosecuted to a full jury verdict, with roughly $1.9 million in fraudulent loans across the two schemes and a sentencing hearing ahead that will decide how much of the rest of his life he spends in prison.

Sources

• Internal Revenue Service (Criminal Investigation), “Former Missouri pastor convicted of all charges related to pandemic, auto, personal loan fraud,” August 26, 2026 — source