After it was determined that 56-year-old pastor Whitney Foster had used fictitious documents to steal property from three churches, she was given a 35-year prison sentence.

Dallas County Criminal District Attorney John Creosote released a statement on behalf of the prosecution saying that a jury had found the priest guilty of stealing $300,000 or more. Authorities claim that the stolen properties were worth over $800,000. According to Creosote, “stealing real estate is an extremely serious and damaging crime.”

It is far worse than pilfering a person’s vehicle or other possessions. We have to hold people accountable when they steal stuff because they are injuring other people. Foster served as the pastor of a tiny congregation without a fixed location.

According to the district attorney’s office, he stole church structures and land by submitting false deeds with bogus leadership from the victim churches as grantors and his church as grantee.

Investigators claim that Foster stole from two Dallas churches, Church at Nineveh and Canada Drive Christian Church, in addition to the First Christian Church of Lancaster.

Creosote claimed that his congregation has been meeting in one of the two properties that are still registered in the names of the defendant or his church.

According to the news release, the third church property “remains embroiled in legal complications caused by Foster’s actions.”

Prosecutors then presented the jury with evidence of seven other false acts.

Homeowners in several Texas counties can sign up for a deed fraud alert program, which will send an email notification whenever a document is filed on their property.