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News / Northwest

Pastor pleads guilty to stealing money for Oso survivors

By Associated Press
Published: November 14, 2019, 9:18am
Traffic moves along a portion of the rebuilt road between Darrington and Arlington that was wiped out by the devastating mudslide that killed 43 people in the community of Oso. The highway was realigned and raised as much as 20 feet in places, and crews also installed six new culverts. In Montecito, Calf., after cleanup crews haul away the last of the muck that splintered hundreds of homes like a battering ram, the seaside hideaway for the wealthy will begin to rebuild from the worst disaster of its kind in the U.S. since the Oso slide. (AP Photo/Ted S.
Traffic moves along a portion of the rebuilt road between Darrington and Arlington that was wiped out by the devastating mudslide that killed 43 people in the community of Oso. The highway was realigned and raised as much as 20 feet in places, and crews also installed six new culverts. In Montecito, Calf., after cleanup crews haul away the last of the muck that splintered hundreds of homes like a battering ram, the seaside hideaway for the wealthy will begin to rebuild from the worst disaster of its kind in the U.S. since the Oso slide. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

SEATTLE — A former Oso pastor has pleaded guilty to stealing church funds, as well as money intended for mudslide survivors.

KOMO-TV reports ahead of his trial scheduled for next week, 57-year-old Gary Ray pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of first-degree theft with aggravating circumstances.

He is expected to be sentenced in Island County Superior Court in February.

Ray is a former pastor at an Oso church. Allegations were raised while he was leading a new congregation at Restoration Church Camano Island. A bookkeeper there noticed that $6,000 was missing and an investigation was launched.

In 2018, Ray was arrested and accused of stealing $40,000 from an Oso fundraising effort, and also $6,000 from the Camano church. Court documents stated that after Ray helped raise the money for Oso, he transferred the funds into his personal bank account with no intention of distributing the money to survivors.

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