Alleged fraud committed by top leaders at Layton Christian Academy
Jan 31, 2023, 6:01 PM | Updated: 6:33 pm
LAYTON, Utah — Church leaders and teachers at Layton Christian Academy are in tears over an alleged “massive fraud” operation at their school possibly involving millions of dollars.
Turns out, the suspects are a family of top administrators the senior pastor considered to be dear friends and family.
Sr. Pastor Myke Crowder with the Christian Life Center Church, which runs the academy, sent a letter home to parents saying he had “no choice” but to fire Greg Miller, his wife Karen, their son Jared Miller and his wife Lexie.
A lawsuit filed by the church against the Millers is calling it a “massive fraud and potentially multimillion dollar embezzlement scheme,” where the Millers were allegedly diverting tuition money into their own business entities.
“We are frankly devastated,” said Chris Crowder, Myke’s son and associate pastor of the church. “We love the Miller family. They’ve worked for my dad for 29 years. My dad has cried, and he’s not the type of person to cry, but he’s devastated because he loved the Millers and loves the Millers still.”
Top administrators at Layton Christian Academy fired after being accused of potentially embezzling millions of dollars in what is being called a “massive fraud” operation. A sad day for the school. We have reaction @KSL5TV at 6. pic.twitter.com/eNzXOcyi9x
— Dan Rascon (@TVDanRascon) February 1, 2023
Documents say Chris was the one who actually became suspicious of the Millers late last year after an $88,000 invoice was turned in. That’s when Chris says the internal investigation got underway.
“We did an internal investigation, and that investigation got to the point where we felt like we needed to turn it over to proper authorities,” he said. “Regardless of how many controls you have on transactions, seems like there is always something you can get around.”
The church has filed the lawsuit to try and recoup some of the money and stop the Millers from having any access to the financial records. Documents say, “If the Millers are not stopped, they could financially destroy Christian Life Center as a whole.”
KSL TV went to the Millers’ home in Layton and it appeared that they were in the process of moving household items out. They did not come to the door or respond when calling them by phone.
“It’s easy to look at a news story and go, ‘wow, that stuff happens,’ but when you are the one who knows the people involved, it’s a whole other level of sadness,” Chris said.
So far, criminal charges have not been filed, but the church says it has met with the Davis County Attorney.
KSL did not hear back from the Davis County Attorney’s Office Tuesday evening.
