Plumber who found cash at Joel Osteen’s Houston Church to get $20,000 reward

The Houston plumber who found a stash of cash in the wall of a bathroom at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church will have a very merry Christmas indeed.

The plumber will pocket a $20,000 reward for his find.

Lakewood, one of the nation’s largest megachurch congregations, meets in the former Compaq Center, an arena that now can seat as many as 16,000 people. In 2014, the church reported the theft of approximately $600,000 in cash and checks. A reward of $25,000 was offered by Crime Stoppers of Houston, which included $20,000 added by Lakewood Church.

The plumber discovered the stash of money — including cash, checks and money orders — in a bathroom wall while working a the church on Nov. 10, according to a Houston Police Department.

The department said the recovered checks suggested the find was connected to the 2014 theft report.

The Crime Stoppers group said Tuesday it would “gift” $20,000 to the plumber, although his discovery did not lead to an arrest, which is generally a condition of getting a payout from the group.

Rania Mankarious, chief executive of the Crime Stoppers group, said: “In 2014, Lakewood Church gave us $20,000 to work on this case. In 2016, they chose to gift us those funds for operations. Today, we are gifting that same about of money to this Good Samaritan and wishing [him] and his family a wonderful holiday season.”

A Lakewood Church spokesperson told The Washington Times the ministry is “appreciative of the plumber and we hope he pays the gift forward.”

The spokesperson said the church is “not at liberty to disclose specific amounts due to the ongoing police investigation. However, we can refer to what was originally reported in 2014, [that] an estimated $200,000 in cash and $400,000 in checks and credit card donations was stolen. After the money was found, the Church contacted the insurance company and the matter is now resolved.”