"Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison." That's what Jesus said in Matthew 5:25, but it would appear a former parishioner of The Potter's House thought otherwise.
Karleisha Tarver, 31, has landed herself in trouble with the law on account of her allegedly stalking Bishop T.D. Jakes. The woman has spent the past three years stalking Bishop Jakes and a judge issued a temporary restraining order that will hold until Monday, February 24th.
Tarver's reasons for stalking the bishop are at the moment, undisclosed.
"I would love to comment, but I can't because this case is pending," stated Bishop's attorney, Faith Johnson, to the Star-Telegram.
The court documents state that the harassments began in March 2011 when Tarver showed up on Bishop Jakes' doorstep. She was forcibly removed from the property by security officers.
A little later that same month, she had to be escorted from the church when she tried to attend and was later excommunicated in May 0f 2011.
A couple months after the excommunication, she showed up on The Potter's House-Fort Worth campus and "yelled out" in the midst of Bible study, and was again, removed. At this time, the Fort Worth police issued Tarver a criminal trespass citation.
Over the past three years, actions like this have taken place at the home and church locations.
On January 5th, Tarver again tried to get to Bishop while he was in the altar preacher. Once apprehended, she was escorted by security to the church counseling staff who tried to show her the error of her ways. But to no avail.
Two days later on the 7th, she was found in the Jakes' home driveway and when spotted by security, she attempted to speed up and run one of them over. She sped off shortly after. The police were again alerted.
The court documents express that the increasingly accelerating actions of Tarver "may ultimately lead to the death of one of the plaintiffs, their family, their friends, church attendees and/or staff."
On Monday, the court will decide in a hearing whether or not they should issue a temporary injunction which would order Tarver to stay away from Bishop Jakes reported the Star-Telegram.
The restraining order states that Tarver cannot come within 500 feet of Bishop Jakes, his family, or his employees.
Tarver was arrested on January 26th when, again, attempted to attend the church's services which makes her guilty of criminal trespass.
Again, there is no clear motivation presented by Bishop Jakes, his ministry, or his attorney as to the obvious obsession of this woman with the minister. The public does not know if Tarver is not a fan of Bishop Jakes' teaching, too much a fan of it, mentally unstable, or demonized, but one thing is certain: it's a good thing Bishop Jakes has an excellent security staff!
