Former pastor arrested, charged for stealing nearly $58K from NC church
A former pastor has been arrested for allegedly misappropriating funds from the North Carolina church where he once served.
Devin Cyrus Carroll, a 23-year-old resident of Conway, South Carolina, was arrested last week for allegedly embezzling $57,934.13 from Happy Home Baptist Church in Nakina, North Carolina.
Carroll is facing 16 felony counts related to the alleged embezzlement, reported Baptist Press last Friday, with authorities claiming the theft took place on or around Feb. 27, 2024.
Seven of the counts, totaling nearly $43,000, involved alleged payments to outstanding loans with Advance America, which offers payday loans as well as other short-term credit products.
Other allegations involve restaurant orders, horseback riding, a water park trip, veterinary expenses for his pet dog, cellphone bills and payment for personal legal expenses.
Carroll was appointed a public defender for his first court appearance, reported BP, and was held on a $75,000 secured bond. He is next scheduled to be in court on Sept. 17.
Happy Home Baptist Church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina and the Dock Missionary Baptist Association, noted BP.
Carroll, a former pastor and an employee of Horry County Schools, was arrested and charged in July 2025 with third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor under the age of 16.
According to authorities, Carroll had allegedly grabbed a 13-year-old middle school student's "private parts in a lewd and lascivious manner with the intent of arousal."
Carroll had been serving as an in-school suspension aide at Conway Middle School at the time of the alleged incident, which reportedly took place in late May 2025. He had submitted his resignation in January of that year, effective June 7, 2025.
One former Conway Middle School student told WMBF she was not surprised by the sexual misconduct charges, claiming that Carroll "was very flirtatious with my classmates."
"When you're this young, it doesn't really register in your mind that people you're interacting with on a daily basis are actually really weird and do not have the right intentions in their mind," she told the news outlet.
