Jim Bakker

====<span class="anchor" id="Fraud conviction and incarceration"></span>Fraud conviction and imprisonment====
''The PTL Club''{{'}}s fundraising activities between 1984 and 1987 were reported by ''[[The Charlotte Observer]]'', eventually leading to criminal charges against Bakker.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Miller|first1=Hunter|title=How a Sexual Assault Scandal Led to the Uncovering of a $158 Million Crime in a Televangelist Empire|url=http://popculture.com/tv-shows/2017/09/28/jessica-hahn-sex-scandal-jim-bakker-ptl-club/#3|website=popculture.com|date=September 28, 2017|access-date=February 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180214142046/http://popculture.com/tv-shows/2017/09/28/jessica-hahn-sex-scandal-jim-bakker-ptl-club/#3|archive-date=February 14, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Bakker and his PTL associates sold $1,000 "lifetime memberships", entitling buyers to an annual three-night stay at a luxury hotel at Heritage USA during that period.<ref>{{cite web|last=Schmidt|first=William|title=For Jim and Tammy Bakker, Excess Wiped Out a Rapid Climb to Success|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/16/us/for-jim-and-tammy-bakker-excess-wiped-out-a-rapid-climb-to-success.html?pagewanted=all|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 16, 1987|access-date=February 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215084321/http://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/16/us/for-jim-and-tammy-bakker-excess-wiped-out-a-rapid-climb-to-success.html?pagewanted=all|archive-date=February 15, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the prosecution at Bakker's fraud trial, tens of thousands of memberships were sold but only one 500-room hotel was ever finished.<ref>{{cite web|last=Harris|first=David|title=Former Heritage USA resort is again up for sale|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/1997/09/29/story4.html|work=[[The Business Journals]]|date=September 29, 1997|access-date=February 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040521172657/http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/1997/09/29/story4.html|archive-date=May 21, 2004|url-status=live}}</ref> Bakker sold "exclusive partnerships" which exceeded capacity, raising more than twice the money needed to build the hotel. Much of the money paid Heritage USA's operating expenses, and Bakker kept $3.4 million.<ref>{{cite web|title=Top 20 Church Scandals: #9 Jim Bakker PTL Scandal|url=http://pimppreacher.com/post/122919285600/top-20-church-scandals-9-jim-bakker-ptl-scandal|quote=Bakker kept $3.4 million in bonuses for himself|publisher=PimpPreacher.com|date=July 1, 2015|access-date=February 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215083819/http://pimppreacher.com/post/122919285600/top-20-church-scandals-9-jim-bakker-ptl-scandal|archive-date=February 15, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

After a 16-month federal [[grand jury]] probe, Bakker was [[indicted]] in 1988 on eight counts of [[mail fraud]], 15&nbsp;counts of [[wire fraud]] and one count of [[Racketeering|conspiracy]].<ref name=Time12-1988 /> In 1989, after a five-week trial which began on August 28 in [[Charlotte, North Carolina]], a jury found him guilty on all 24 counts. Judge [[Robert Daniel Potter]] sentenced Bakker to 45 years in [[Federal Bureau of Prisons|federal prison]] and imposed a $500,000 fine.<ref>{{cite news |last=Applebome |first=Peter |title=Bakker Is Convicted on All Counts; First Felon Among TV Evangelists |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/06/us/bakker-is-convicted-on-all-counts-first-felon-among-tv-evangelists.html |access-date=November 23, 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=October 6, 1989 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217032132/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/06/us/bakker-is-convicted-on-all-counts-first-felon-among-tv-evangelists.html |archive-date=December 17, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Applebome|first=Peter|title=Bakker Sentenced to 45 Years For Fraud in His TV Ministry|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/25/us/bakker-sentenced-to-45-years-for-fraud-in-his-tv-ministry.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=October 25, 1989|access-date=March 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309054358/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/25/us/bakker-sentenced-to-45-years-for-fraud-in-his-tv-ministry.html|archive-date=March 9, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Peifer | first=Justice Paul E. | title=Jim Bakker's Federal Court Appeal | publisher=Supreme Court of Ohio website | date=April 12, 2000 | url=http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/Justices/pfeifer/column/2000/jp041200.htm | access-date=November 29, 2007 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430221259/http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/Justices/pfeifer/column/2000/jp041200.htm | archive-date=April 30, 2008 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> At the [[Federal Medical Center, Rochester]] in [[Rochester, Minnesota]], he shared a cell with activist [[Lyndon LaRouche]] and skydiver [[Roger Nelson (skydiver)|Roger Nelson]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Witt |first=April |title=No Joke |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/2004/10/24/no-joke/882986fd-53f1-4443-95f8-f4f265d38f61/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=October 24, 2004|access-date=March 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428093533/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/2004/10/24/no-joke/882986fd-53f1-4443-95f8-f4f265d38f61/|archive-date=April 28, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit]] upheld Bakker's conviction on the fraud and conspiracy charges, voided Bakker's 45-year sentence and $500,000 fine and ordered a new sentencing hearing in February 1991.<ref name="U.S. v. Bakker">{{cite web |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?q=%22James+O.+Bakker%22&hl=en&as_sdt=3,44&case=1832676487785187662&scilh=0 |title=U.S. v. Bakker |year=1991 |access-date=October 31, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312135825/http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?q=%22James+O.+Bakker%22&hl=en&as_sdt=3,44&case=1832676487785187662&scilh=0 |archive-date=March 12, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> The court ruled that Potter's sentencing statement about Bakker, that "those of us who do have a religion are sick of being saps for money-grubbing preachers and priests",<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/29/opinion/jim-bakker-s-startling-sentence.html |department=Opinion |title=Jim Bakker's Startling Sentence |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 29, 1989 |access-date=June 9, 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613005011/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/29/opinion/jim-bakker-s-startling-sentence.html |archive-date=June 13, 2018}}</ref> was evidence that the judge had injected his religious beliefs into Bakker's sentence.<ref name="U.S. v. Bakker"/>

A sentence-reduction hearing was held on November 16, 1992, and Bakker's sentence was reduced to eight years. In August&nbsp;1993, he was transferred to a minimum-security federal prison in [[Jesup, Georgia]]. Bakker was [[parole]]d in July 1994, after serving almost five years of his sentence.<ref>{{cite news |title=Jim Bakker freed from jail to stay in a halfway house |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/02/us/jim-bakker-freed-from-jail-to-stay-in-a-halfway-house.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 2, 1994 |access-date=March 11, 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311081429/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/02/us/jim-bakker-freed-from-jail-to-stay-in-a-halfway-house.html |archive-date=March 11, 2018}}</ref> His son, Jay, spearheaded a letter-writing campaign to the parole board advocating leniency.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bakker |first=Jay |author-link=Jay Bakker |title=Son of a Preacher Man: My Search for Grace in the Shadows |year=2001 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=006251699X}}</ref> Celebrity lawyer [[Alan Dershowitz]] acted as Bakker's parole attorney, having said that he "would guarantee that Mr.&nbsp;Bakker would never again engage in the blend of religion and commerce that led to his conviction."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/24/us/judge-cuts-bakker-s-prison-term-making-parole-possible-in-4-years.html |title=Judge cuts Bakker's prison term, making parole possible in 4&nbsp;years |last=Applebome |first=Peter |date=24 August 1991 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=15 April 2020 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200515161918/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/24/us/judge-cuts-bakker-s-prison-term-making-parole-possible-in-4-years.html |archive-date=May 15, 2020}}</ref> Bakker was released from [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]] custody on December 1, 1994,<ref>{{cite news |last=Smothers |first=Ronald |title=Ex-television evangelist Bakker ends prison sentence for fraud |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/02/us/ex-television-evangelist-bakker-ends-prison-sentence-for-fraud.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 2, 1994 |access-date=February 21, 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180216030215/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/02/us/ex-television-evangelist-bakker-ends-prison-sentence-for-fraud.html |archive-date=February 16, 2018}}</ref> owing $6 million to the IRS.<ref>{{cite news | last=Krotz | first=Daniel | url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-krotz/jim-bakker-and-other-coun_b_795822.html | work=[[Huffington Post]] | title=Jim Bakker and the counterfeit hell robbers | date=December 20, 2010 | access-date=February 18, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204062348/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-krotz/jim-bakker-and-other-coun_b_795822.html | archive-date=February 4, 2017 | url-status=live}}</ref>
<!--The reporting is problematic. First is the claim of parole. Parole at the Federal level was eliminated by the Sentencing Act of 1984 <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/98th-congress/house-bill/5773 |title=H.R.5773 - Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 |publisher=United States Congress |access-date=January 21, 2021 }}</ref>

In addition the federal sentencing method was based on a system of points, where points were added or subtracted depending on various factors including the particular crimes. Using a chart prepared by the US Sentencing Commission the total of the points indicated the sentencing range. A change of eight years to 45 years is way outside the range of any one total of points.<ref>[https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/guidelines-manual/2016/Sentencing_Table.pdf ussc.gov]</ref> For the 4th Circuit to require a resentencing, that required that the District Court to modify the convictions.

The 4th Circuit could not require a significant adjustment simply because the trial judge supposedly demonstrated bias. District Court judges were extremely limited in the range of sentencing. The sentences were computer based upon the determination of Probation officers who calculated the points and then determined the sentencing range based on the total points. This was mandatory until maxinimum sentencing was made optional in the Supreme Court case of United States v. Booker<ref>United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005).</ref> -->
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