Authorities in Houston confirmed Saturday that a series of checks and cash found by a plumber in the wall of megachurch pastor Joel Osteen's church are connected to a 2014 heist when $600,000 went missing.
The Houston PD posted a statement today regarding the investigation, launched after a plumber who worked at the church and called into a Houston radio morning show on 100.3 The Bull to tell them about his shocking discovery.
The plumber only gave his first name, Justin. The revelation comes seven years after about $600,000 in donations was stolen and hadn't been recovered.
Police said that they were called to the church for report of property discovered in the building on November 10 at about 2:30pm.
They claimed church members told them during a renovation project, the money was found inside a wall.
'Burglary and theft officers responded and began investigating. An undisclosed amount of money was inventoried, documented and left in the custody of Lakewood Church since it was property found on the premises.'
They confirmed that the money is connected to the 2014 heist and added the investigation is ongoing.
Televangelist and megachurch pastor Joel Osteen was questioned by police after 'bags and bags' of cash and checks were found in a bathroom wall at his Houston church
A plumber made the discovery while working on a loose toilet at the church on November 10
Justin was called in to America's largest church, Lakewood Church, on November 10 to fix a broken toilet, he said in the radio interview.
'There was a loose toilet in the wall, and we removed the tile,' he explained during the call Thursday morning. 'We went to go remove the toilet, and I moved some insulation away and about 500 envelopes fell out of the wall, and I was like 'Oh wow!''
He said hundreds of envelopes were filled with cash and checks. Houston police confirmed to DailyMail.com Thursday that cash and checks were found in the wall, and that they talked to 'everybody associated with the building' they were able to contact.
In 2014, $600,000 worth of donations were stolen from the church. The amount was just a portion of donations made from one weekend of services and it has never been found.
Justin told the radio show that he informed the church's supervisors and was made to wait at the church for almost seven hours after his discovery.
'Recently, while repair work was being done
