Plumber Finds Stash Of Money, Checks Hidden In Wall Of Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church

A plumber has found a stash of money and checks hidden in a wall at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. The discovery comes seven years after $600,000 in cash and checks were stolen from a safe at the church.

The plumber phoned the Morning Bullpen, a radio show on 100.3 The Bull, Thursday morning to talk about how some 500 envelopes fell out of a wall behind a loose toilet in the church, reported Click2Houston.

According to the caller, he made the discovery while was doing repair work at the mega-chapel on Nov. 10.

"There was a loose toilet in the wall, and we removed the tile," he recalled. "We went to go remove the toilet, and I moved some insulation away and about 500 envelopes fell out of the wall, and I was like 'Oh wow!'"

The envelopes reportedly contained cash and checks inside, but the total amount of money found remains unclear.

"I went ahead and contacted the maintenance supervisor that was there, and I turned it all in," the caller added.

The show's host, George Lindsey, was taken aback upon hearing the plumber's story.

"We were like, 'What are you talking about?'" he said. "So, then he relayed to us that in 2014 there was a big story about money being stolen from Lakewood Church that they never recovered."

In 2014, the church made headlines after $200,000 in cash and $400,000 in checks vanished from its safe. At that time, Crimestoppers even offered a reward of $25,000 for any piece of information that would lead to the arrest of a suspect. However, no arrests were made, and the Houston Police Department is still investigating the incident.

If the shocking discovery behind the bathroom wall is found to be connected with the theft, it could provide a new direction to the seven-year-old case.

"Don't you want to know what happened, I mean they stole the money, but they didn't get it out of the wall," Lindsey added. "Did they have an accident, you know what I mean? It's like, why did they never go back? If it's that money, why did they never go back?"

A representative from the church already confirmed that cash and checks were found while repairs were being done at the church last month. It immediately notified police after the cash and checks were discovered, reported ABC13 Eyewitness News.

The Lakewood Church is the biggest church in the U.S. with more than 43,000 weekly visitors. It is led by Osteen, an American televangelist, theologian, speaker and author who entice a large number of followers with his "simple and positive" sermons.