Reverend Al Sharpton’s pastor brother has been jailed for 30 months for a slew of crimes including drug trafficking, income tax evasion and lying to obtain Social Security disability benefits.
Pastor Kenneth Sharpton Glasgow, 58, the half-brother of the civil rights leader, was sentenced to more than two years behind bars on Thursday for his illegal acts. His prison stint begins on August 17.
Glasgow pleaded guilty to embezzling $407,000 from two non-profit organizations he founded including, The Ordinary People Society (TOPS) located in Dothana, Alabama a felon voting rights advocacy organization, and the Prodigal Child Project.
Though the prosecutors allege he may have taken nearly $1 million from the nonprofits without reporting the income, but US District Judge R. Austin Huffaker rejected that claim, The Christian Post reported.
After the sentencing hearing Jim Parkman, one of Glasgow’s defense attorneys, told the news outlet it was ‘a fair sentence.’
Glasgow also tried to deceive the Social Security administration in order to collect disability benefits, but was ordered to repay the $376,000 he collected.
The con-artist pastor, who also runs Kenny Sharpton-Glasgow Ministries International, also pled guilty to conspiring with another man, Willie Frank Peterson, to distribute cocaine. That case is still pending, as per the news outlet.
Previous crimes include an alleged assault on a police officer who reportedly tried to remove the illegal drugs Glasgow had been hiding in his mouth during a traffic stop.
He is scheduled to appear in court later this month regarding the assault charge, but his camp believes that the other charges he is facing will be dropped, News 4 reported.
In March 2018, Glasgow was taken into custody with 26-year-old Jaime Townes after the body of 23-year-old Breunia Jennings was found in a wrecked car in Alabama.
Jennings had been shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they believe Townes was angry at Jennings because he believed she had stolen his car.
Dothan police said several people, including Townes and Glasgow, were arrested at the scene and transported to the department for interviews.
Police then charged Townes and Glasgow with capital murder. According to police, Jennings was shot during a dispute over a car.
The authorities said that ‘instead of him (Townes) notifying law enforcement, he took matters in his own hands and jumped in Mr. Glasgow’s vehicle to find Breunia Jennings.’
Authorities said numerous shots were fired at the vehicle Jennings was driving and police believe Townes fired those shots.
Glasgow later appeared in court and questioned the murder charge against him.
‘I don’t know why I am facing capital murder charges,’ Glasgow stated, as per The Dothan Eagle.
‘I’m not responsible for what someone else does. He just asked me for a ride to take him to look for his car.’
According to Alabama law, murder committed by or through the use of a deadly weapon while the victim is in a vehicle is considered a capital crime, the Eagle reported.
Glasgow was charged with murder because it’s believed he aided or abetted Townes by letting him use his car.
In this case, aiding or abetting is equally liable for the underlying crime, according to the state’s complicity statue.
He was eventually cleared of the capital murder charge.
Glasgow, who was born in Brooklyn but raised in Alabama led a different life than his half-brother Al Sharpton. The brothers – Kenneth and Al – share the same father.
Glasgow was born after Al Sharpton Sr., and Sharpton’s older half-sister, Tina Glasgow, began a sexual relationship, ProPublica reported.
During an interview with the publication he said: ‘I was born messed up. My fingers messed up. It’s meant for me to be messed up.’
Glasgow served a 14-year-sentence on robbery and drug convictions more than two decades ago. The experience inspired him to launch the nonprofit The Ordinary People’s Society, who mission is to promote a number of social justice initiatives including, felon voting rights.
His community outreach over the years had helped those afflicted with drug addiction, mass incarceration, homelessness, poverty, unemployment and hunger.
Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, testified on Glasgow’s behalf and described him as having ‘no boundaries of who he will help,’ the news outlet reported.
Glasgow’s defense team said that the judge took into account Glasgow’s community work when deciding on his 30-month prison sentence.
Typical low life Sharpton should be in jail, not flapping his mouth like a poor old black man…
Puuuuullllllease. Reverend Al Sharpton? Of what? The church of black power? All he ever talks about is resistance. He has never told anyone publicly about salvation. About how those that are saved are to love their enemies, by giving them the gospel.