Man who robbed Brooklyn 'Bling Bishop' Lamor Whitehead wants leniency because victim's a crook too

NEW YORK — One of the men who robbed Brooklyn Bling Bishop Lamor Whitehead during a live-streamed sermon says he should get leniency on his sentence — because the bishop is also a crook.

Ex-con Say-Quan Pollack’s lawyer made a point of Whitehead’s March fraud conviction in a letter to a judge.

“The arrest, trial and conviction of Bishop Lamor Whitehead, one of the victims here, bears mention and consideration by the Court,” defense lawyer Gary Villanueva wrote to Brooklyn Federal Court Judge William Kuntz on Friday.

“Although the Bishop’s crimes and conviction do not exonerate Say-Quan nevertheless they are factors which the Court may consider in fashioning a reasonable sentence that is not greater than necessary to achieve valid penological goals.”

Pollack, 25, and a second man, Juwan Anderson, are awaiting sentencing in the dramatic, caught-on-video July 2022 stickup.

A third suspect, Shamar Leggette, was killed in a gunfight with police and U.S. Marshals at a New Jersey motel in January. His demise was also caught on video, which was released by the Jersey Attorney General’s office in July.

Pollack faces a maximum 20 years when he’s sentenced on Aug. 12, but under the terms of his plea deal he can appeal if Kuntz goes higher than 7¼ years.

In his letter to the judge, Villanueva highlighted Pollack’s difficult childhood and said he was working to better himself. Just a few weeks after the robbery, Pollack was accepted into an underwater welding training program in Texas, and was set to move there just 13 days before his arrest.

Villanueva’s sentencing memo doesn’t go into why Pollack should get a break because of Whitehead’s crimes, which he calls “appalling.” He declined to comment when contacted by the New York Daily News Monday.

Whitehead, a self-described mentee of Mayor Adams known for his flashy clothing and jewelry, caught the public’s attention in May 2022, after he wedged himself into an unsuccessful attempt to broker an accused subway shooter’s surrender, angering police and defense attorneys.

Then, on July 24, 2022, Whitehead was preaching at Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministry on Remsen Ave. near Avenue D when the three masked bandits barged into the church.

The men lifted $1 million from Whitehead and his spouse — who was holding the couple’s baby daughter on her lap at the time.

Speculation initially spread that the bishop had staged the heist, but after Pollack and Anderson’s arrests, Whitehead said he felt vindicated after he was “turned from a victim into a villain.”

Whitehead’s legal troubles were just beginning, though. In March he was found guilty in Manhattan Federal Court of a string of loan frauds that netted him $6 million, of fleecing a parishioner out of her $90,000 life savings, and of lying about his ties to Adams to extort and try to defraud a Bronx body shop owner in a real estate deal.

He was sentenced to nine years in June.

Whitehead’s attorney did not return messages seeking comment Monday.

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