A federal indictment alleges that Derwin Montgomery, former Winston-Salem council member and state House representative, used his position as executive director of the Bethesda Center for the Homeless to take trips to Cancun, Mexico, stay at luxury hotels in Los Angeles and other larger cities and charge the nonprofit for services from his own media company.
Montgomery, who is pastor of First Calvary Baptist Church, also is accused of spending money at a strip club in Las Vegas.
Montgomery, 33, faces a federal charge of wire fraud based on allegations that he embezzled nearly $24,000 from Bethesda Center for the Homeless between 2018 and 2020, according to an indictment a federal grand jury handed down Monday in U.S. District Court in the Middle District of North Carolina.