Shelbyville homeless shelter director pleads guilty to theft, exploitation charges

By: Jennifer Kraus

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The director of a homeless shelter in Shelbyville pleaded guilty Thursday to taking advantage of the vulnerable people she was supposed to be helping.

Back in June, NewsChannel 5 Investigates first told you about Brenda Knight, the founder of Castle Ministries. She was first arrested and charged with theft and financial exploitation of the elderly. Two weeks later, police added food stamp trafficking charges.

The charges all stem from her work with her organization, which ran at one point the Open Hands shelter for men, a separate shelter for women, a thrift store and Bible classes — all in Shelbyville.

Police in Shelbyville began investigating after getting complaints from both current and former residents of the shelters who told police that before they could move in, Knight required them to clear out their bank accounts and give her all of their money supposedly so she could manage it. However, residents claimed she did not always give it all back.

Knight also reportedly charged what she called "bed fees" to stay in the shelters. Police told NewsChannel 5 Investigates that she charged as much as $640 a month and that records showed her nonprofit took more than $35,000 in bed fees last year.

Additionally, Knight was accused of requiring residents to spend their monthly food stamp money on food for the shelters. Residents said they were told to hand over their food stamp cards or were sent to the store with a list from Knight of things to buy.

Shortly after her initial arrest, NewsChannel 5 Investigates talked with Knight on the porch of the women's shelter about the various allegations. Knight insisted it was all a misunderstanding.

"We are all volunteers. We are just a small ministry. We are serving the Lord. We are just trying to show compassion and help the ones that are transitioning to a housing program," she told us.

But, in court Thursday morning where she was set to be arraigned, Knight pleaded guilty to two of the three charges. She insisted on representing herself, maintaining that hiring an attorney went against her religious beliefs. The D.A. agreed to drop the food stamp trafficking charges in exchange for the guilty pleas on the other counts.

Knight was then sentenced to three years probation along with a nine-month suspended sentence. The judge said she cannot work in or operate a homeless shelter again, and her name will be on the elderly abuse register for the rest of her life. She was also ordered to pay restitution to one of the shelter residents whose money she had taken.

Since her arrest earlier this summer, all of the Castle Ministries entities in Shelbyville have closed.

Shortly after she was first arrested, Shelbyville Police Detective Samuel Campbell told NewsChannel 5 Investigates: "We don’t take pride in taking down a homeless shelter and its director. That’s not what we come to work to do, but if they’re taking advantage of the vulnerable, the homeless and elderly, I think we have a responsibility to them to make sure that they have justice."

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Shelbyville homeless shelter director pleads guilty to theft, exploitation charges