Former Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell Released from Prison to Home Confinement, Wife Says

Kirbyjon Caldwell, a former senior pastor of Windsor Village church in Houston, Texas, was sentenced in January 2021 in connection with a fraud that took place between 2013 and 2014. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit electronic fraud and began serving his sentence in June 2021. Prosecutors said Caldwell and investment advisor Gregory Alan Smith raised about $3.5 million from 29 investors for bonds issued by the Republic of China before 1949. One report describes the bonds as worthless Chinese bonds, and it describes the case as a scheme to sell them to investors. Court records cited in one report put the amount defrauded at nearly $3.6 million. Caldwell has held that none of the victims belonged to his church.

Caldwell was serving a six-year sentence, and part of that time was spent at a low-security facility in Beaumont. He requested early release in December 2023, citing a lack of prior criminal offenses and deteriorating health. Court documents say that since his incarceration he has had an unspecified lung condition, heart problems, and high blood pressure. According to the records, the judge denied his early release request on July 31.

Caldwell was then transferred out of the Beaumont facility on a Thursday. Houston Chronicle reporting says his wife, Pastor Suzette Caldwell, announced the news in a Facebook post, and that Caldwell remains on home confinement. The same report says the exact reason for the transfer is unclear and that it appears to have occurred without a formal court order. The date of the transfer is not given in the reporting available.

The Christian Post’s Spanish-language report gives a different account of his status. It states that Caldwell was released from prison and that he returned to the pulpit of Windsor Village Church on August 3, 2025, almost a year after his release. That report also says court records confirmed that Caldwell had paid full restitution to all victims, a matter of honest dealing (Proverbs 11:1). The two reports differ on whether Caldwell had been released from custody, and on the church’s name, which one report gives as Windsor Village Church and the other as Windsor Village United Methodist Church.

The church announced that Caldwell would give his first sermon since his return the following Sunday.