The Rev. Stephen Cliffgard Lee, who regularly performs religious duties at Living Word Lutheran Church in Orland Park, turned himself in to authorities at Fulton County Jail in Georgia Friday afternoon.
On Aug. 14, Lee was named along with 18 others, including former President Donald Trump who turned himself in Thursday, in an indictment the group broke a variety of laws in an efforts to alter the results of the 2020 election in Georgia. Lee is pleading not guilty, according to his lawyer David Shestokas.
Shestokas expressed concern Thursday that Lee would not have the funds to be released from jail. Those concerns were assuaged Friday morning when a fund set up by Illinois Family Institute raised the $7,500, or 10% of the total bond, needed to release Lee from custody, according to Shestokas’ office.
While the Illinois Family Institute had raised only about half the necessary funds by Thursday evening, the remaining balance was covered by popular conservative media personality Herneitha Rochelle “Silk” Hardaway Richardson, according to executive director David E. Smith and Shestokas’ media relations director and sister, Jill Shestokas.
Jill Shestokas also said Lee plans to be back leading the ministry of Living World Lutheran Church in Orland Park on Sunday.
The indictment includes Lee in large part because of an interaction that took place between Lee and an election worker named Ruby Freeman in December 2020. The indictment states Lee knocked on Freeman’s door and spoke to her neighbor “with intent to knowingly engage in misleading conduct toward Ruby Freemen, by purporting to offer her help, and with intent to influence her testimony.”
Freeman was the subject of scrutiny from Trump and others over allegations that she altered voting results. In March, these allegations were “found to have no merit” according to a report released by the Georgia secretary of state’s office, which conducted an investigation with several local and national bodies including the FBI.
Video evidence shows Lee knocking on Freeman’s door. But Shestokas points out that is not a crime.
“Pastor Lee is indicted for knocking on a couple of doors,” he said Thursday.
