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LISTEN: A Georgia pastor and seven associates were indicted last month in an alleged multi-million dollar fraud conspiracy that targeted military personnel in Southeast Georgia. GPB’s Orlando Montoya speaks with a former church member about her experiences in the church and asked a nonprofit watchdog how such a swindle could have happened.
TRANSCRIPT
Peter Biello: A Georgia pastor and seven associates were indicted last month in an alleged multi-million dollar fraud conspiracy that targeted military personnel in Southeast Georgia. U.S. Department of Justice officials charged the leaders of the House of Prayer Christian Churches of America, which also had churches in Augusta and in other states. The government alleges pastor Rony Denis and others used their church to manipulate members into forced marriages, into properties that generated rental income for the defendants, and into Veterans Administration benefits that were funneled into church-controlled accounts that paid for the defendants’ credit card bills. That’s according to the indictment. Prosecutors say the church’s school, a seminary, earned church leaders $23 million in GI Bill payments. GPB’s Orlando Montoya recently spoke with a former church member about her experiences in the church and asked a nonprofit watchdog how such a swindle could have happened. Orlando addressed the former church member, Abigail Bradeen, first.
Orlando Montoya: How did you get involved in the church and how did it affect your life?
Abigail Bradeen: I joined back in 2006. I was an active duty soldier at the time. I started in Fort Gordon in Augusta. After I graduated nursing school, I was transferred to Fort Stewart, which put me at Hinesville, which is the headquarters of House of Prayer. So I started in Augusta, I was on base living in the barracks, and they came to me in the barracks and invited me out to a dinner and Bible Q&A that was just for soldiers and veterans, really. And that’s how I got started going. I was actually looking for a church at the time, so I went. It was a nice environment for soldiers because, I mean, everybody there were soldiers. We talked like soldiers talk. So it was really enticing. It grabbed me right away, and from there you get sucked in so fast because they always have events going every single day. So all of my free time outside of duty hours was actually at the church…