Rev. Jerome Rocky Milton smiles and waves after the track was dedicated in his honor during a high school track and field meet at Bishop T.K. Gorman Catholic School in Tyler, on March 27, 2018. 

A longtime Tyler pastor is set to go to trial next month after being indicted on multiple theft and related charges.

Jerome Rocky Milton, 66, of Tyler, is accused of taking money from an elderly couple and also opening bank accounts without consent from his previous church to pay personal bills, according to police documents.

He was also recently indicted on charges of money laundering and stealing from a local nonprofit.

During his 50-plus years of ministry, Milton gained the respect of many. Because he is so well-known in the Tyler community, this case quickly grabbed the community’s attention. 

Here are key facts to know about the case: 

What is Milton accused of?

When arrested on Oct. 2, Milton was charged with:

• Property theft between $2,500 and $30,000
• Two counts of credit or debit card abuse against the elderly
• One count of property theft between $30,000 and $150,000 against an elderly person

Milton was arrested again on Dec. 22 and charged with:

• Misappropriation of between $150,00 and $300,000 of fiduciary property

Milton was released on bond after each arrest.

Who is Jerome Milton?

Milton, most recently the pastor at the Open Door Bible Church of Tyler, marked 50 years in ministry in July 2021.

At the young age of 10 months, Milton was abandoned along with his other siblings, the Tyler Morning Telegraph previously reported. Before his foster mother adopted him, he was in 14 foster homes, one reform school and two orphanages.

For 32 years Milton was the pastor at Greater New Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church where he retired.

Milton came out of retirement in 2018 to grow the Open Door Bible Church, 301 East Mims St. in Tyler.

Milton graduated from high school with a full-ride scholarship for football and track at the University of California — Los Angeles. He graduated from UCLA Magna Cum Laude and was a finalist in the 1976 Olympics for track and field.

After, Milton returned to earn a master’s degree in theology from Point Loma School of Theology. From the same school, he also received an honorary doctorate of divinity in 1985.

Milton was coach at Bishop Gorman Catholic School in Tyler for over two decades. He led the school’s boys’ and girls’ track and field teams to 10 TAPPS state championships, including eight straight from 1999 to 2006. 

In 2018, the track at the school’s McCallum Stadium was dedicated as the Rev. Jerome Rocky Milton Track Home of Champions.

Milton was inducted into the inaugural class of the Bishop Gorman Crusaders Athletic Hall of Fame in October 2020.

What led to Milton’s arrests?

According to an arrest affidavit, Milton was helping take care of an elderly couple at church and had the power of attorney and finances for them.

The Tyler police investigation began when the elderly couple’s son heard two church members say Milton was misusing his parents’ bank cards and getting them to sign blank checks.

According to the affidavit, the investigation showed multiple debit card transactions and ATM withdrawals from the elderly husband’s bank card. The detective said multiple checks were written from the couple’s account to Milton and his personal and church accounts.

He repeatedly used the couple’s money to make personal payments on his own behalf, according to the affidavit.

Bank records and receipts showed the elderly man’s card was used to make a vehicle payment on Milton’s account with an auto repair shop. Records also showed Milton used the man’s card to pay for a loan at a used car business, the affidavit stated.

When questioned about using the couple’s cards to make his vehicle payments, Milton at first denied the act. When shown the receipt, the detective said Milton could not explain why that happened, the affidavit read.

The document also shows Milton used the couple’s bank cards to withdraw cash between March and July. The cash withdrawals totaled about $3,800.

A detective said Milton could not explain how the withdrawn cash was used for the couple’s benefit. Milton told the officer the elderly man liked to keep cash in his wallet as a reason for the cash withdrawals, the affidavit stated.

According to the affidavit, Milton was asked to leave his previous church of Greater New Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Tyler in 2018 by church membership because of “his handling of finances and other suspicious behavior on his part.”

Texas Bank and Trust records for Milton showed he deposited two checks totaling $5,000 written to him this past August from an American State Bank account named Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church. The checks were signed by Martha Roane, the affidavit read.

However, that American State Bank account was closed in 2018. Before Texas Bank and Trust officials were notified, Milton withdrew cash and paid bills with a portion of that $5,000, the affidavit read.

The closed account at Texas Bank and Trust had a negative balance of $2,991.52. When Milton wrote the first check of $3,000, the account balance was $21.29, the document stated.

The detective spoke to Kermit Lane, a deacon with Greater New Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, who said the church did not write Milton those checks or any checks since he left the church. He also said Greater New Pleasant has never had a bank account with American State Bank, according to the police document.

Lane told the detective Roane died earlier this year, and she was Milton’s personal secretary while at the church. At that time, she had no permission to sign any checks written from the church or make any financial decisions for the church, the affidavit stated.

Milton gave the police a document showing church trustees voted to allow him to open bank accounts in the church’s name. The account, which was closed in 2018, had several donation checks written to the church deposited during the year it was open. Several checks were also written from the account and it was used to pay personal expenses like cable bills and house rent, the affidavit stated.

Lane later told the detective Milton’s document allowing him to open the bank account was false, and Milton was only allowed briefly to access a church bank account to assist with payments for a building while he was pastor. A Texas Bank and Trust official told the detective the bank wanted to prosecute Milton, according to the affidavit.

What’s next?

Milton was recently indicted on one charge of theft against an elderly individual during the Dec. 9 grand jury session following his October arrest, according to records from the 114th District Court. As of now, this is the only indictment a grand jury has returned in Milton’s case.

Online court records show Milton is scheduled for a plea docket hearing at 1:30 p.m. May 13 on the theft charge, which is a second-degree felony.