Pastor embezzled $504K from historic Vernon AME, which survived the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Nehemiah Frank, The Black Wall Street Times

The Vernon AME embezzlement case raises questions about financial oversight after Keith Mayes admitted diverting church funds.

TULSA, Okla. — Historic Vernon AME Church says former pastor Keith Rydell Mayes Sr. acted without the knowledge or authorization of church leadership when he diverted more than $504,000 while overseeing the finances of one of Greenwood’s most significant institutions.

Mayes, 63, pleaded guilty Sept. 14 to bank fraud and tax evasion, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Federal prosecutors say he embezzled more than $504,000 from at least March 2022 through November 2025.

The African Methodist Episcopal Church’s 12th Episcopal District responded one day after Mayes’ guilty plea.

“The actions described in the federal case were not authorized by the congregation or the leadership of Vernon A.M.E. Church,” Bishop Silvester Scott Beaman said in a Sept. 15 statement.

The district said Mayes established and controlled the accounts and financial activities “without the knowledge or authorization of Vernon’s governing leadership.”

Mayes has not served as Vernon’s pastor since May. The district said the church remains operational under new pastoral leadership and has reviewed its financial practices.

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ABHM has an exhibition on economic oppression during the Jim Crow era, a time during which Tulsa’s Greenwood district was known as Black Wall Street.

Read about how the Tulsa Race Massacre impacted the economic freedom of generations of families.

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