2 Houston Pastors Indicted on FEMA Fraud Charges
- November 21, 2008
Pastor Sheila Washington
Both Accused of Inflating Number of People Helped After Katrina
HOUSTON – The pastors of a southwest Harris County church are accused of stealing millions of dollars meant for college students.
Pastor Eric Washington, 55, is also accused of conspiring to defraud FEMA after Hurricane Katrina. Law enforcement agencies spent two years investigating Washington, his wife, Pastor Sheila Washington, and two other church leaders of the now defunct Fishers of Men Worship Center.
On Wednesday Secret Service agents arrested them at their homes. Fox 26 was there when three of them posted bond.
The Washingtons, along with church treasurer, Tony Overstreet, are charged with bank fraud in connection with a suspected student loan scheme. The trio is accused of signing up church members for student loans and then pocketing the money.
The indictment alleges the three filed for 140 applications during a two year period, seeking more than four million dollars in student loans. Prosecutors say the Washingtons and Overstreet then directed the student loan money be turned over to the church to fund a new building, even though the proceeds of the loans were to be used only for educational expenses.
Sheila Washington denies the allegations. “That’s not true. It will all come out. The truth will come out,” Washington said after posting a $100,000 bond.
More charges accuse Eric Washington and the church secretary, Felicha Williams, of inflating the number of Katrina evacuees the church helped back in 2005. The indictment says FEMA reimbursed the church $320,580, but Washington is accused of using $100,000 of the government money for a cruise and a child’s wedding.
“The church went into financial dilemma, and we no longer could keep our obligation in different areas. People get upset, and I can understand both sides, but the truth will prevail. It will prevail,” said Sheila Washington.
The church is now operating under the name “Judah Assembly of Praise.” If convicted of bank fraud charges, the Washingtons face up to 30 years in prison.
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