DALLAS (ABP) — Officials with the Baptist General Convention of Texas will give law-enforcement agencies the documents produced by an independent investigation that revealed financial malfeasance in its church-starting efforts.
Executive Director Charles Wade will provide officials “complete copies of a BGCT-commissioned investigative report and all relevant exhibits regarding alleged misuse of convention church-starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley,” according to a Nov. 28 statement released by the convention.
The statement said Wade and his associates are attempting to schedule a meeting with state and federal law-enforcement officials to gauge their interest in the documents. The BGCT will share its internal findings “in order to explore with the authorities the possibility of them doing a further investigation,” the release quoted Wade as saying.
The report is 42 pages long and contains the names of several people implicated in the scandal. The investigators examined more than 10,000 pieces of evidence in their efforts, according to the statement.
The investigation, released to the convention's Executive Board Oct. 31, concluded that a portion of $1.3 million in BGCT funds earmarked for starting churches in the impoverished Rio Grande Valley, along the Texas-Mexico border, had been misused between 1999 and 2005. The report implicated three pastors hired as church planters: Otto Arango, Aaron de la Torre and Armando Vera.
The statement quoted BGCT spokesman Ferrell Foster as saying convention leaders are taking what they feel is appropriate action: “We want to work with authorities to make sure justice is done.”
It also said BGCT leaders are considering options to recover the allegedly diverted funds.
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