A white powdery substance believed to be narcotics was discovered with the body of a 42-year old megachurch Florida pastor who was discovered dead in a Times Square hotel room, a law enforcement official said Monday, according to the Wall Street Journal:
The cause of death for the Rev. Zachery Tims, Jr., who led an 8,000-member ministry in Orlando, is still pending.
Tims’s body was discovered Friday afternoon when a worker trying to check the minibar in his room at the W Hotel, and found the room’s door latched from the inside. A maintenance worker opened the door and found Tims lying on his back between the bedroom and living room area. According to a law enforcement official, police found a glassine envelope with a white powerdery substance inside the right pocket of his shorts. […]
Tims was a young drug addict in Maryland when he was “miraculously saved” according to his website and a memoir published in 2006. After discovering Christianity, he earned degrees in accounting and theology and worked at a ministry in Baltimore. In 1996, he and his wife Riva moved to Orlando, where they founded the New Destiny Christian Center. […]
In 2009, Tims and his wife Riva divorced after he admitted to a year-long affair with a stripper. The couple had been married for 15 years.
After the divorce, Riva Tims founded Majestic Life Ministries in Orlando.