Florida Pastor Found Dead in Times Square Hotel

Rev. Zachery Tims Jr. of New Destiny Christian Center in Orlando was found lifeless with a substance believed to be narcotics.

Posted: 08/16/2011 02:59 PM EDT
Zachery Tims

On Friday, the body of Florida's 8,000-member megachurch pastor Reverend Zachery Tims Jr. was found dead in a Times Square, New York, hotel with a white-powdered substance believed to be narcotics on his body, reports the Wall Street Journal.  

 

Tims was found lying on his back between the bedroom and living room area when a hotel worker went inside his room to check the minibar.

 

The white substance was found inside the right pocket of his shorts in a glassine envelope. According to officials the power is being tested.

 

According to Tims’ website and memoir published in 2006, he grew up as a drug addict and was then saved.

 

In 1996 he and his now-former wife founded New Destiny Christian Center in Orlando, Florida.

 

He and his wife Riva divorced in 2009 after 15 years of marriage after he admitted to a year-long affair with a stripper.

 

“I join many others in being saddened by the news of the death of Rev. Zachery Tims of Florida,” tweeted the Rev. Al Sharpton.

 

Police found no signs of trauma to his body and the cause of his death is still pending.



To share story ideas with Danielle Wright, follow and tweet her at @DaniWrightTV.

 

(Photo: New Destiny Christian Center)

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