MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA: Reverend Al Sharpton's half-brother has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for a slew of crimes, including drug trafficking, tax fraud, and lying to secure Social Security disability benefits. Kenneth Sharpton Glasgow, an Alabama pastor and voting rights activist, received the sentence on Thursday, July 6 after pleading guilty to his illegal acts earlier this year.
The 58-year-old Glasgow’s prison stint is scheduled to start on August 17. After the sentencing hearing, one of Glasgow's defense attorneys, Jim Parkman, told news outlets that it was a ‘fair sentence’. The sentence came after the pastor admitted to stealing $407,000 from two non-profit organizations he founded, including the Prodigal Child Project and The Ordinary People Society (TOPS), an organization in Dothan, Alabama that advocates for the rights of felons to vote. The prosecution alleged that he may have stolen more than a million dollars from his non-profits without disclosing his income. However, the allegations were rejected by US District Judge R Austin Huffaker, according to DailyMail.
Who is Kenneth Sharpton Glasgow?
Glasgow, who was born in Brooklyn but raised in Alabama, is the half-brother of AI Sharpton. He was born after Tina Glasgow, Al Sharpton's elder half-sister, and Sharpton Sr started a sexual relationship, according to ProPublica. The con artist pastor, who also runs Kenny Sharpton-Glasgow Ministries International, earlier stated in an interview that he was born messed up. "I was born messed up. My fingers are messed up. It's meant for me to be messed up,” he stated. Glasgow has had a long criminal history with several prison stints.
In addition to skimming from his organizations, Glasgow also confessed to deceiving the Social Security Administration in order to collect disability benefits. He has now been ordered to repay the $376,000 benefit that he received earlier. As for the drug charges, he pleaded guilty to conspiring with another man, Willie Frank Peterson, to distribute cocaine. The pastor was previously accused of assaulting a police officer, who attempted to retrieve the illicit substances that he was purportedly hiding in his mouth during a traffic check. He is scheduled to appear in court later this month regarding the assault charge, but according to News 4, his defense team expects that the other allegations against him will be withdrawn.
Kenneth Sharpton Glasgow’s long criminal history
In another instance, Glasgow and 26-year-old Jaime Townes were detained after the body of Breunia Jennings was discovered in a crashed automobile in Alabama in March 2018. Jennings was fatally wounded in the head and was declared dead right away. Townes and Glasgow were among the individuals who, according to Dothan police, were detained at the scene and taken to the department for questioning. Police then charged Townes and Glasgow with capital murder. The authorities said that "instead of him (Townes) notifying law enforcement, he took matters into his own hands and jumped in Mr Glasgow's vehicle to find Breunia Jennings."
Glasgow later showed up in court to contest the murder accusation leveled against him. "I don't know why I am facing capital murder charges," Glasgow stated, as per The Dothan Eagle. "I'm not responsible for what someone else does. He just asked me for a ride to take him to look for his car." After an investigation, he was eventually cleared of the capital murder charge. Glasgow also served a 14-year sentence on robbery and drug convictions more than two decades ago. This encounter led him to start The Ordinary People's Society, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to advance various social justice measures, including the ability of felons to vote.
