CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A man who resigned last week as West Virginia's anti-poverty chief was sued in federal court earlier this month over a loan given to the Huntington church where he is the pastor.
Ed Harper, who quit Friday as the director of the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity, is named as a defendant in Fifth Third Bank's lawsuit against Apostolic Life Cathedral.
In a lawsuit filed Dec. 7, Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati says that Apostolic Life owes more than $702,000 on a loan taken out in 2001, plus nearly $37,000 in interest. The bank also claims that a man who runs a technology company in Tennessee helped the church file fraudulent documents related to the loan.
The man, Mark Shannon Manuel, and his company, DigiGreeters, are also defendants in the suit. So are church trustees and elders.
No one at the church, formerly known as the Staunton Street Apostolic Church, returned a message seeking comment Monday. Assistant pastor Rick Cremeans, reached on his cell phone, referred questions to Harper, who could not be reached.
According to the lawsuit, Apostolic Life Cathedral took out a $900,000 loan in 2001. The bank acquired a lien on the church's real estate property.
This September, Manuel prepared a fraudulent "notice of correction" to the church's trust deed, according to the lawsuit. Church trustee Bernard Cremeans signed and filed the document with the Cabell County Clerk's office.
In October, Manuel allegedly prepared a fraudulent mortgage release, saying the church had satisfied its loan June 26, according to court filings.
Bernard Cremeans told the Gazette on Monday that he couldn't comment on the lawsuit and referred questions to Harper.
The lawsuit alleges that Manuel interfered with the bank's contract with the church, and that his preparation of the documents amounted to "unlawful and unauthorized practice of law."
Reached by the Gazette, Manuel called the lawsuit "frivolous" and said the church has paid off its debt.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A man who resigned last week as West Virginia's anti-poverty chief was sued in federal court earlier this month over a loan given to the Huntington church where he is the pastor.
Ed Harper, who quit Friday as the director of the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity, is named as a defendant in Fifth Third Bank's lawsuit against Apostolic Life Cathedral.
In a lawsuit filed Dec. 7, Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati says that Apostolic Life owes more than $702,000 on a loan taken out in 2001, plus nearly $37,000 in interest. The bank also claims that a man who runs a technology company in Tennessee helped the church file fraudulent documents related to the loan.
The man, Mark Shannon Manuel, and his company, DigiGreeters, are also defendants in the suit. So are church trustees and elders.
No one at the church, formerly known as the Staunton Street Apostolic Church, returned a message seeking comment Monday. Assistant pastor Rick Cremeans, reached on his cell phone, referred questions to Harper, who could not be reached.
According to the lawsuit, Apostolic Life Cathedral took out a $900,000 loan in 2001. The bank acquired a lien on the church's real estate property.
This September, Manuel prepared a fraudulent "notice of correction" to the church's trust deed, according to the lawsuit. Church trustee Bernard Cremeans signed and filed the document with the Cabell County Clerk's office.
In October, Manuel allegedly prepared a fraudulent mortgage release, saying the church had satisfied its loan June 26, according to court filings.
Bernard Cremeans told the Gazette on Monday that he couldn't comment on the lawsuit and referred questions to Harper.
The lawsuit alleges that Manuel interfered with the bank's contract with the church, and that his preparation of the documents amounted to "unlawful and unauthorized practice of law."
Reached by the Gazette, Manuel called the lawsuit "frivolous" and said the church has paid off its debt.
"They're just trying to slander the church, slander the pastors, slander the elders," he said. "Everything we did was with the bank's permission, and the record will show that."
Manuel, who said he is a friend of Harper, said he "settled the loan" for the church. He described DigiGreeters as a technology and consulting company.
"This is all an attack on Pastor Harper," he said of the lawsuit. "I feel sorry for the people who come after pastors, because they have to answer to a higher law than what happens in equity court."
Fifth Third spokeswoman Debra DeCourcy said the bank does not comment on pending litigation.
Harper joined the church as pastor in 1985, according to the church's Web site. The church runs Sunday school classes, youth activities, hospital visitations, and ministries for singles and inmates.
The church also offers a "video ministry" and posts video of its services online. A 19-volume DVD set featuring Harper's preaching on "end-time prophecy" sells for $150.
Gov. Joe Manchin appointed Harper to his state post in 2006. The Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity handles federal money meant to help local social-service agencies fight poverty.
Last week, a Manchin spokesman declined to comment on Harper's resignation, calling it a personnel matter.
According to a 2007 profile published in the State Journal, Harper developed relationships with governors, congressmen and senators when he started a religious service called "God and Country" in the late 1990s. He was one of four ministers at the funeral of U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd's wife, Erma, according to the article.
Harper also spoke at an interfaith service for Manchin on the eve of the governor's inauguration in 2005.
Reach Alison Knezevich at
alis...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1240.
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