Two men were arrested by federal authorities Wednesday in the brazen livestreamed armed robbery of a flashy Brooklyn bishop.
Juwan Anderson and Say-Quan Pollack, both 23, were picked up in Bedford Stuyvesant and hit with federal robbery charges for the July 24 stickup of Bishop Lamor Whitehead, who was mid-sermon when he was allegedly accosted by masked bandits.
“Armed robbery is an intolerable crime, but to commit such an act during a religious service is incomprehensible,” Breon Peace, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.
The two men were arraigned Wednesday afternoon, with bond set at $50,000 for Anderson, along with conditions for his release. Pollak was ordered held without bail as his attorney did not make a bail request. Both pleaded not guilty through their attorneys.
“They caught the robbers, the ones that robbed my church July 24,” Whitehead said in a Facebook post after the arrests were announced. “I’m going to be the first to let you guys know that God is amazing.”
The suspects were charged in federal court under the US Hobbs Act, which criminalizes robbery and extortion which interferes with interstate commerce — in this case because some out-of-state donations were used to purchase the stolen items, sources said.
“I forgive them,” Whitehead said as he arrived in Brooklyn federal court Wednesday before the arraignments. “Now it’s time for justice. Me and my family and my church have suffered long enough.”
At a press conference following the arraignment, the Fendi-loving bishop got heated when a Post reporter asked him what kind of watch he was wearing.
“It doesn’t matter,” the bishop snapped. “There you go again. You talking about what kind of watch am I wearing.
“You don’t ask about my family. Who cares about my watch?” he griped about the diamond-encrusted gold timepiece. “I care about my family, and you guys are not going to keep with the narrative of material things, ok? I am a person. I am a human being. Let’s talk about that.”
The headline-grabbing clergyman added that the whole ordeal “has been a trying, trying time for my family.
“I’m hoping that they cooperate with the federal prosecutors,” he added of the suspects. “I’m hoping that we get justice. I trust in this justice system. My family and my church have been traumatized.”
Footage of the heist showed Whitehead hitting the floor after the thieves stormed his Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Canarsie and made off with $1 million in loot.
The robbers allegedly took, among other valuables, the bishop’s $75,000 Rolex watch, a $75,000 Cavalier watch and a $25,000 ruby and diamond ring. The jewelry has not been recovered, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said at a news conference Wednesday.
NYPD detectives and ATF agents were able to identify the suspects including by using video and electronic tracking, Essig told reporters.
Anderson has two prior arrests, one from July 2020 stemming from a domestic violence assault and a traffic-related bust from January. His alleged co-conspirator, Pollack, has previously been arrested seven times, all in 2015, Essig said.
Earlier this month, the outspoken minister lashed out at the NYPD, saying he didn’t think cops believed him and thought he had staged the robbery.
“The gunmen put a gun in my 8-month-old baby’s face,” he said then. “So now, why would they respect me and my church if they feel I’m a criminal?”
Whitehead’s comments came after another live-streamed incident, in which he was seen shoving a woman who interrupted his services on Sept. 18 — an incident which saw the bishop get handcuffed and briefly questioned at the local police precinct.
Cops later let him go without charges.
“This is a win today because the narrative what was posted and presented that I had something to do with this robbery,” Whitehead said Wednesday. “It has destroyed my life. This was turned around from me being a victim to a villain.
“To be looked at as a villain instead of a victim really traumatized my family and really traumatized my church,” he said.
Additional reporting by Tina Moore, Amanda Woods and Joe Marino
