Scandal-Plagued Pastor of Black Church Reassigned to San Francisco

The spiritual head of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles was moved to San Francisco's Bethel AME Church after eight controversial years here in which he was named in a sexual harassment lawsuit and came under scrutiny for his use of church credit cards, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Pastor John J. Hunter will be replaced by the Rev. J. Edgar Boyd, the pastor of the San Francisco church. On Sunday, Boyd is set lead services in Los Angeles.

The reassignment was made by Bishop T. Larry Kirkland, and neither he nor Hunter could be reached Friday by the Times for comment.

Some church members were critical of Hunter, saying he was inaccessible,
overspent on personal security guards and chose to live far from the South
Los Angeles church in Encino, the Times reported. Others said attendance,
tithings and the church's activist profile had dropped under his tenure.

Hunter's supporters pointed to his initiatives to provide school supplies to local children and promote health with a neighborhood farmers market.

In 2004, Hunter was appointed to take over from Rev. Cecil "Chip'' Murray, an almost universally admired leader who helped grow the church into the city's leading black political voice.

Hunter was reassigned Sunday at the conclusion of an annual gathering of
AME churches in Southern California and Nevada.

Hunter agreed in December to settle for an undisclosed sum a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him by former church assistant Brenda Lamothe.

In 2008, he apologized to his congregation for using church credit cards
to pay for at least $122,000 in vacations, jewelry, suits and other personal
items. The Internal Revenue Service launched a tax investigation against him,
and Hunter said he had set up a payment plan to pay his back taxes.