Convicted Brazilian church leaders return home

SAO PAULO — The married couple who lead one of Brazil’s largest evangelical churches returned home Saturday to cries of joy from followers after serving a two-year sentence in the United States on money smuggling charges.

About 100 followers, some shouting “Alleluia,” greeted Estevam Hernandes Filho and Sonia Haddad Moraes as they arrived in Sao Paulo at dawn.

The two were allowed to leave the United States 15 days before the end of their probation period because of family health problems, said Carlos Brickmann, the spokesman for Brazil’s Reborn in Christ Church. He would not elaborate.

In August 2007, the couple was sentenced to five months in prison, five months of house arrest and a probation period for failing to declare they were carrying more than $10,000 into the United States. They were also fined $60,000.

The two — known as Apostle Estevam and Bishop Sonia to their followers — had pleaded guilty to smuggling more than $56,000 hidden in luggage, a child’s backpack and a Bible case, which they were carrying when they arrived in Miami.

The church they founded in 1986 claims hundreds of thousands of followers and about 1,200 temples in the world’s largest Roman Catholic country.

The church also has temples in Orlando and Deerfield Beach, Florida, and in Boston. The church also has newspapers, TV and radio stations, a recording company and the Brazilian patent on the English word “gospel.”

Brazilian authorities have said the couple stole parishioners’ donations for their own use, including the purchase of mansions and horse farms in Brazil and the United States.

After their arrest in the United States, Brazil sought their extradition on charges of fraud, larceny, tax evasion and money launderings - charges that Brickmann said are still pending against them.