COLD SPRING - After spending nearly two years in prison, the former pastor of First Baptist Church in Cold Spring must find employment and will live in a halfway house until his release in April.

Larry Davis, 60, was transferred Monday from a federal prison in Manchester, Ky., to the Talbert House in Cincinnati.

Davis had pleaded guilty in 2005 to falsifying a loan application and income tax evasion. Authorities said he stole up to $730,000 from First Baptist Church to feed his gambling habit.

Federal prosecutors said Davis used some of the church's tithes to buy himself a used Porsche 911.

Davis will be at Talbert House until he is released April 20, said Michael Real, community corrections manager for the U.S. Bureau of Federal Prisons Community Corrections Office in Cincinnati. Federal law allows an inmate to serve the last 10 percent of his sentence in a halfway house, Real said.

Davis has 15 days to find employment and must sign in and out when leaving the halfway house for pre-approved activities, Real said. A curfew of 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. is maintained, Real said.

Davis had been pastor at First Baptist for 20 years and guided the church from 300 to 1,600 members. In the wake of the scandal, some members left and formed Christ Baptist Church in Cold Spring in 2004 and Potter's House in Alexandria in 2005.

First Baptist has recovered, said Ron Davis, chairman of the church's trustees and no relation to Larry Davis.

First Baptist has a new pastor and about 550 members, Ron Davis said.

"We are moving in the right direction," Ron Davis said. "We are getting into some mission work. We got a mission trip to Asia planned later this year."

Most of the congregation forgives Larry Davis, Ron Davis said.

"I wish him the best," Ron Davis said. "There is no animosity. That probably would be the majority feeling if you polled the congregation."

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