Controversial Tennessee Pastor Greg Locke says he and his family "have nothing to hide" after some 60 federal agents ransacked their home in a pre-dawn raid in an investigation alleging he misappropriated church funds and other crimes.

Locke, the lead pastor of Global Vision Bible Church in Lebanon, told his congregation Sunday that the raid happened just three weeks into a six-week sabbatical he had taken to mourn his 20-year-old son Evan, who died from a drug overdose in May.

“The thing that angered me was not that it happened, but that the enemy kicked us while we were down. And it took away the opportunity for me to continue to grieve Evan. And so we've been the last few weeks just in this tailspin,” Locke said.

“We were in bed at home, and at 6 in the morning, 60 federal agents surrounded our home, and we didn't know they were there. And I heard a faint knock at the door, and I got up, and by the time I got my robe on and got out of the bedroom, a team of federal agents had batter-rammed in our front door and riot gear and had me on the ground,” he recalled.

“I was screaming, ‘I've got kids in the house. Don't shoot. Don't shoot. I've got kids in the house, and they dragged my wife outside in her night shirt and underwear, kicked our kids' bedroom doors in, dragged my kids out of bed. Three of them were home,” Locke said.

The family was confused, he said.

“We didn't know what was going on. Here's my kids mourning the loss of their brother. And they've got my son Malachi up against the wall with an AR in his back," he added. "They took us outside. We didn't know what to do. We were shocked, terrified in the moment."

“They pulled me aside and said, 'We're here because of an overabundance of the last couple of years of allegations online that you have misappropriated church funds.' I was so shocked in the moment. I said, 'A phone call wouldn't have sufficed,'" he continued.

Locke did not explicitly identify which agency the agents came from, but he said they had search warrants for his home and his media company, Locke Media. The federal agents, he said, searched his home for three hours looking for evidence of his alleged crimes, including child trafficking.

“They took our phones, downloaded everything out of them. They took all of our computers, our devices. Three hours went by. Three of the most earth-shattering, humiliating hours of our life. And they left with a little tiny box of literally a few bank statements,” Locke said. “They went through the pages of our library books, every drawer, every cabinet, every bed, every attic, every space, every chicken coop, every shed on our property.”

Locke said his personal bank accounts, as well as the accounts for his church, have been canceled. He also said that in the next month, the church will lose its building.

“Two weeks ago, we went to conduct our normal business, and because the government had subpoenaed the records from our banks, the bank said, ‘Sorry, all of your accounts are canceled immediately,’” Locke said. “They canceled all of our Global Vision accounts. We have operated; I don't know how we have operated this church for two weeks with no income and no outflow.”


He said he is hoping to find a bank that will allow them to conduct their business. Locke stated that he has not been able to pay his staff or bills, such as the church’s insurance.

“Kudos to our entire leadership team. They have gone without any pay. And all of them say, ‘Preacher, we're riding at dawn. We're not here for a paycheck.’ None of them have received any pay whatsoever,” he said.

Locke said he would not be offering further comment on the announcement and insisted that he has no plans to fight the investigation because he and his church have nothing to hide.

“We have nothing to hide. It's just difficult to get them everything they want because they took everything that it's already on ... all of our devices. And so, we've had to get another laptop and really start from scratch. Some of you have probably already received letters or phone calls. They've subpoenaed everybody you can imagine,” he told his congregation.

“And what they're finding is that everybody they're subpoenaing, who I don't even know who they all are, people that have donated money in the past, missionaries overseas — they want to make sure, you know, because they were told that we're, you know, trafficking children and all of this.”

Locke says he was informed he has been under investigation for about two years. The FBI’s field office in Tennessee did not immediately respond when asked if they were aware of the investigation of Locke and his church.

Jen Rockwell, a former Global Vision Bible Church member who started a social media campaign called “unlocked” to expose alleged corruption, financial manipulation and psychological control at the church, stated on Facebook that Locke sent her a “lengthy text message” on Sunday night stating her group got what they wanted.

"I don’t know what you think unLOCKEd wanted or wants, but I assure you, we haven’t gotten it yet," she wrote. "What we want has nothing to do with criminal investigations."

"Federal search warrants are one step in a much longer legal process. It is reasonable to assume that investigators are continuing their investigation and evaluating the evidence they have gathered," Rockwell stated. "If prosecutors eventually believe criminal charges are warranted, there are still multiple procedural steps before a case ever reaches a courtroom. In many federal felony cases, that includes presentation to a grand jury. And that can be an extremely lengthy process."

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