Southern California Church of Christian Science: Local members ‘stunned, saddened’ by $11.5 million fraud scheme

Representatives of the Church of Christian Science in Southern California on Tuesday said they were “stunned and saddened” following the revelation of a scheme by one of their members to loot about $11.5 million from the church’s historic Hollywood branch over a decade.

Charles Sebesta, a 54-year-old from Huntington Beach, now faces up to 60 years in prison after on Monday pleading guilty to bank and wire fraud charges for orchestrating the scam.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Sebesta joined the Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist as a facilities manager in 2001. By 2016, he had worked his way up to chairman of the congregation, and used his position to slowly gain control of the church’s finances.

Using fake bank accounts named after real businesses, Sebesta fooled church members into believing they were paying millions of dollars to their vendors. Instead, Sebesta pocketed most of the cash. He also hid some of the thefts as donations, including a fake $4 million gift to the Mother Church, the founding congregation of the Church of Christian Science in Boston.

Prosecutors said Sebesta skimmed that money off the top of the L.A. church’s $12.7 million sale of its longtime Hollywood Boulevard location.

In a statement Tuesday, Aliso Viejo-based representatives for a network of Christian Science churches across Southern California downplayed Sebesta’s role as chairman of the Los Angeles branch.

Local members would have decided on his duties — the Church of Christian Science statement said branch churches are “democratically run and self-governed.”

With the funds, Sebesta purchased a $2 million mansion, a membership to Club 33 — a VIP club at Disneyland in Anaheim — and gifts for his wife, son and a female companion, according court documents filed when he was arrested in August 2019.

Part of his sentence will include requiring Sebesta to pay back the money he stole.

Church leaders said the L.A. chapter, which has existed for more than a century, is no longer active.

“Our church community was stunned and saddened to learn about the misappropriation of funds at Fifth Church of Christ Scientist, Los Angeles,” representatives said in the statement. “As a Christian church we value honesty, integrity, and compliance with the law. Fraudulent conduct has no place.”