Former Pastor Faces Nearly 12 Years Imprisonment After Cremated Remains Were Found Inside His Church

The impressions of most people who follow the teachings of Pastors are centered on virtues such as honesty and trust. Unfortunately, some pastors such as Minister Shawnte Hardin, the former leading clergyman of an Akron church has disappointed his followers and the general public by indulging in unethical behavior.

Minister Shawnte Hardin has been found guilty of operating a funeral home without a license. The law court has sentenced him to nearly 12 years imprisonment.

The judge in Lucas County Common Pleas Court gave him 11 years and 10 months after finding him guilty of the charges.

The criminal charges leveled against him came in around August with 31 charges. He was charged with operating an unlicensed funeral home, abuse of a corpse, passing bad checks, theft, and tampering with records.

Sources say he is linked to about 90 people found inside of Hardin’s now former church on Buchtel Avenue. This is a developing case and so remains under investigation by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

In defense, the attorney of Hardin says the supposed bodies were being kept at the church, after a friend of Hardin’s who was a Toledo funeral home director, lost his license.

According to the Attorney, the intention of the funeral director was to store the cremains in order to locate the relatives of the deceased. This process did not go on smoothly when that Toledo funeral director passed away.

A viral video spotted online depicting the court sentence has gained a lot of traction. Most of the church members and the general public are disappointed. In the video, before the sentence came from the judge, some of the accusers who felt hurt and disappointed shouted in anger.

One woman in tears yelled, “You lied to me, you lied to me!” Another woman in tears asked Hardin, “Is this how you treat family?”

According to the judge —it is very necessary to put a man who had betrayed the trust of the public behind bars. Unfortunately, it isn’t just any man, but a man of God who is supposed to show quality leadership skills and the fear of God.

He is said to have impersonated a funeral director in at least 4 counties, including Cuyahoga County.

Cremains inside a church sounds weird and so the public is wondering why a man of God should have any involvement in such a thing for whatever reason.