If you just read our March 2003 E-update about our dialogue with attorneys for Benny Hinn ministries, we now consider allegations that Mrs. Suzanne Hinn shoplifted from a South African department store in 1999 specious at best, and outright wrong at worst. However, this allegation was reported that year in the Cape Times, a major newspaper in South Africa.  

We at The Christian Sentinel have always treated the story as suspect and said so from the beginning, and simply reported it as an allegation, primarily due to the fact that the woman in question that was arrested by police referred to herself as "Penny Hinn," which is not the name of evangelist Benny Hinn's wife. Benny Hinn Ministries have always denied the newspaper reports, which we duly reported from the beginning. And after entering into a dialogue with The Christian Sentinel about the incident, with the Sentinel asking for proof that the allegation was not true, attorneys for the Hinn ministries claim they hired a private investigator in South Africa who was able to rebut the charge. The Christian Sentinel then pulled the articles on the situation from our web site.   

We believe attorney David Joe of the Dallas area, in representing the Hinn Ministries, has been able to show how Hinn's wife was possibly set up and smeared by a South African woman arrested by police for shoplifting who allegedly told police she was the wife of the famous American televangelist. In our call to the reporter who broke the story for the Cape Times, the reporter told The Christian Sentinel that the woman even gave police the former address of the Hinn ministries in Orlando, Florida as her residence, and the woman seemed to fit a vague description of Mrs. Suzanne Hinn. However, here is what attorney Joe told us in an August 14, 2001 post about what private investigators in South Africa reported to him: 

I wish to follow up with you in writing on my last conversation with Bill Alnor, wherein I said that we have received additional information from our investigator in South Africa that supports our unwavering position that Suzanne Hinn, wife of Benny Hinn, was NOT the subject of the December 4, 1999 arrest at the Edgars Store in Cape Town, South Africa, described in the Cape Times. Specifically, we have retained the services of an investigative firm in South Africa. This firm made person-to-person contact with Mr. A. Davids, the employee of Sabre Security who arrested the Defendant, and personnel of the Cape Town police. The investigating officer in this case was Inspector De Beer. 

Our investigative efforts have yielded conclusive results regarding the identity of the arrested suspect. As we discussed, and as I am reiterating herein, the arrested woman was not Suzanne Hinn, the wife of Benny Hinn. Further, her name is not Suzanne Hinn, and "Penny Hinn" is, at most, an informal name she uses. While I have been provided with the legal name of the woman in question, as well as her husband’s name, and the identification numbers of each of them, as well as their residential address in East Rand, South Africa, I am not inclined to disclose this information to you at this time, given that I have no interest in bringing additional attention to her. However, I will confirm for you that the subject of the arrest was a South African national and resident, who was in no way affiliated with Suzanne Hinn, Benny Hinn, or Benny Hinn Ministries. We would consider any implication to the contrary to be made in bad faith and respond accordingly.

We now consider the matter of whether Mrs. Hinn was arrested for shoplifting as closed. She probably was not, but we never said she was. Moreover, the Cape Times, the South African newspaper that broke the story has never recanted it, nor issued any type of correction, despite a threat from Hinn's attorneys.  

However, we believe the Hinn camp, in dialoguing with us on these matters, did not act in good faith. They did not as they claimed they would answer our serious questions about Hinn's teachings. Our list of questions submitted to the Hinn camp can be accessed here.  

None of our stories on the situation were libelous, and none reported the shoplifting charge as a fact. Here are our two original reports. 

Suzanne Hinn made quite a splash on a recent Comedy Central "GodStuff" segment of The Daily Show. They aired a clip of her outlandish behavior at the Hinn’s home church, Orlando Christian Center. The GodStuff segment opens with Suzanne shouting, "If your engines aren’t revved up, then what you need is a holy ghost enema right up your rear end!" She is later shown making gestures like a charging bull, storming across the platform back and forth and then sliding on her belly across the floor to a stop where she remained motionless for several minutes. Comedy Central was sent a threatening letter by Benny Hinn’s attorneys who backed down after being brushed off by the Daily Show’s attorneys. That segment can be seen at Comedy Central’s website linked at the end of this article.  [Editor's note: However, that site is now down, but the Alnors have a copy of the video tape in their research files.]

Apparently, the South African shoplifting charges against Suzanne Hinn were dropped due to the backlog of cases in the Cape Town Magistrate Court. 

This story will be updated as our investigation into this matter continues.

"SHOPLIFTING charges against a woman claiming to be married to popular US televangelist Benny Hinn were dropped in the Cape Town Magistrate Court on Tuesday before she was able to accuse Edgars department store of filming naked people in their change-rooms."

"Prosecutor Brandon Lawrence told the Cape Times that although he believed he had a strong case against Penny Hinn, he had dropped the serious charges because the court roll was full. . . The Benny Hinn Ministries in Florida, US, yesterday at first declined to comment on the matter, preferring instead to answer questions in writing. However, when pressed further a woman at the ministry… said pastor Hinn was married to Suzanne. This is the name Hinn says she uses in the US."

"He [the prosecutor] had earlier considered sending her for psychiatric evaluation. Hinn, who describes herself as a religious person, was arrested at Edgars Store in Adderley Street on December 4 and released on R1,000 bail for allegedly stealing two sets of ladies pyjamas." (sic)

"These were allegedly found in her bag as she was about to leave the store".

"She claims she was trying to expose Edgars security officials [for using hidden cameras on female customers] when they were trying on underwear in fitting rooms."

"Edgars managing director, Robert Madon, denied the allegations and said it is company policy that no surveillance cameras are installed in fitting rooms."

"…On Monday – the day Hinn was to appear in court on shoplifting charges – she threatened to expose the department store for what she claimed was an invasion of her privacy. ‘How else would they have known I had taken the pyjamas?’ (sic) she asked."

(Source: The Cape Times, Cape Town South Africa. Article from Court Reporter, Motshidisi Mokwena

March 9, 2000 UPDATE: 

Today we received a phone call from Dennis Brewer, attorney for the Benny Hinn Ministries of Dallas, who declared Suzanne Hinn to be innocent of shoplifting allegations as reported by The Cape Times.

"Suzanne Hinn hasn’t been to South Africa in three years," Brewer declared. "I’ve already demanded a retraction from the newspaper who printed the story or else we’ll sue them. And if you print the story we’ll sue you."We told him that we were only interested in the truth the accuracy of the story. Besides, our story asks whether the incident happened in light of the major story that appeared in the South African newspaper.

Earlier in the day we interviewed Court Reporter Motshidisi Mokwena, who broke the original story for The Cape Times. Mokwena told us that the shoplifting suspect, a brown haired, well-dressed woman clearly identified herself as the wife of Benny Hinn, and gave her the address and phone number of The Orlando Christian Center (the church Hinn founded) in Florida as contact information.

Our investigation is continuing. We are seeking police records and mug shots and are sending Mrs. Hinn's photographs to South African sources for verification.

Attorney Brewer refused our request to supply us with a good quality photograph of Mrs. Hinn that we could send to the South African sources. "I will not do that because I do not want to be an accessory to helping smear Suzanne in case the reporter takes her for the shoplifter," Brewer said.

Our investigation is continuing. Please E-mail us if you have additional information.