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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/7762/full/7762/baptist-leader-arrested-on-charges-of-embezzling-funds-from-adl/ <br /><br /> <b>Baptist leader arrested on charges of embezzling funds from ADL</b> <br /> Friday, March 6, 1998 | by <p>REBECCA SEGALL </p> <br /><br /><p>NEW YORK, Feb. 26 (JTA)—The recent arrest of the president of the National Baptist Convention on multiple charges of fraud has revived memories of a good deed gone awry.<br /><br /> Among the charges leveled against the Rev. Henry Lyons was the diversion of a $225,000 donation from the Anti-Defamation League.<br /><br /> Only approximately $31,000 of the gift was used by Lyons as intended: to rebuild vandalized black southern churches.<br /><br /> The balance has since been recovered and redistributed to the churches in need of repair, according to Abraham Foxman, national director of the ADL.<br /><br /> Following news of Lyons' arrest on Feb. 25, Foxman said, "We feel betrayed on the one hand, but since the missing money was returned, we are satisfied."<br /><br /> Details on Lyons' embezzlement came to light after Lyons' wife, Deborah, was arrested on charges of setting fire to a waterfront house he owned with colleague Bernice Edwards, who was also arrested on charges of racketeering.<br /><br /> At a 1996 news conference in New York, the ADL teamed up with the National Urban League to present the money to Lyons.<br /><br /> Weeks later, Lyons sent a letter to the ADL stating that six Alabama churches each received $35,000 and that a seventh was due to receive $15,000.<br /><br /> But an article in the Tampa Tribune reported three of those churches received checks for only $10,000 each, and a fourth for as little as $1,000. The others received nothing.<br /><br /> After learning about the discrepancies between the amount given and the amount received by the churches, Foxman sent a letter to Lyons, asking "for a complete accounting."<br /><br /> Soon after, the balance of the funds was returned to ADL and redistributed to the needy churches.</p> <p> </p>

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