Church Pastor On Denver DA's Radar; May Involve Alleged Straw Buyer Flipping Operation

In Denver, Colorado, the Rocky Mountain News reports:

• The Denver District Attorney's Office is investigating the Rev. Harold Hicks, pastor of the Mount Carmel Community Baptist Church in northeast Denver, a spokeswoman confirmed [earlier this month]. The nature of the inquiry was not disclosed, but Hicks was the subject of a Rocky Mountain News investigation in July in which two former members of his church said they were unwitting participants in a "straw buyer" real estate scheme.

• Records supplied by former member Sherri Wrightsil indicated she bought seven properties for about $845,000, although she was financially unqualified to do so. A company with ties to Hicks rented them out before they went into foreclosure. In addition, Wrightsil lent Hicks $10,000 for a real estate deal. [...] Mortgage broker Jim Spray, who had helped the Rocky review more than 10 pounds of documents supplied by Wrightsil and Deborah Richardson, another former church member, said their names appeared to have been used as straw buyers, paying inflated prices for dilapidated housing units.

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• In a separate development, Gerald Johnson, an electrician who worked on Hicks' properties, has stepped forward to charge that Hicks painted over mold in some units he was renting out and covered asbestos with sheet rock. [...] "My anger has been simmering for several years," Johnson said. "I have prayed about this. He should be held accountable for what he has done."

For more, see Pastor under DA's scrutiny (Hicks subject of Rocky report on straw buyer scam).

For the earlier Rocky Mountain News story on their investigation of Rev. Harold Hicks, see Signing on faith (Ex-church members say pastor misused trust to conduct shady real estate deals).