A Virginia preacher may end up with a very different sort of congregation after pleading guilty to workers' compensation fraud, income tax evasion, and embezzling money from his church.

Charles V. Shifflett, who served as the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Culpeper, Va. from 1983-2005, was receiving workers' compensation benefits while he was also receiving two paychecks in the amount of $700. Shifflett claimed that he severely injured his back while unloading a grill from a truck. However, surveillance revealed that Shifflett continued to perform all of his job responsibilities while receiving workers' compensation.

A Virginia State Police (VSP) investigation revealed these workers' comp claims reached back to Nov. 2000 and involved two separate workers' comp claims with two different insurance companies.

Not only was workers' comp involved, but there were also discrepancies in how Shifflett and his wife, Janice Shifflett, reported their incomes to the Virginia Department of Taxation. A joint investigation with the VSP and the Dept. of Taxation uncovered the fact that the Shiffletts were manipulating the church payroll, workers' comp, and their tax returns to benefit them financially. Shifflett received more than $27,000 in fraudulent workers' comp benefits over a six-year period.

Shifflett was initially charged with 50 felony counts and one misdemeanor of obtaining money by false pretenses and making materially false statements in connection with a workers' compensation award. Shifflett received one felony charge of obtaining money by false pretenses for every time he accepted a workers' comp check.

Shifflett pleaded guilty to 20 of these felony charges, as well as the misdemeanor charge. As part of the plea agreement, the charges against his wife, Janice Shifflett, were dismissed.

This is not Shifflett's first scrape with the law. According to a report in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, in 2006, Shifflett pled guilty to one felony count of cruelty to children and six misdemeanor assault and battery charges stemming from incidents that occurred at a church-run school in the late 1980s and the early 1990s.

Shifflett's bond was revoked and he will remain in jail until he is sentenced on Oct. 8. Restitution, if any, will be set at that time. Prosecutors said that Shifflett faces up to 310 years in prison.

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