WARRENTON, Ga. (ABP) — The pastor of a Southern Baptist church in Georgia has resigned his pulpit after being indicted on federal charges of tax evasion in Maryland.
It is not the first time that Otis Ray Hope has been in a highly publicized dispute over church-related business dealings.
Hope resigned Oct. 21 as pastor of First Baptist Church of Warrenton, Ga. According to the McDuffie Mirror, a newspaper based in nearby Thomson, Ga. Hope had been called as the church’s permanent pastor four months ago, after serving as interim pastor.
A federal grand jury in Baltimore indicted Hope Aug. 14 on three counts of tax evasion and one count of subscribing to a false document. Prosecutors allege that Hope falsely set up a Christian camp he owned in Hagerstown, Md., as a 501(c)(3) corporation and failed to claim $843,410 in taxable income over a three-year period.
Hope told the Georgia paper he had done nothing wrong, and the Shiloh Conference and Retreat Center was a legitimate tax-exempt charity.
The government says Hope falsely told the IRS the non-profit was supported by donations, offerings and tithes, and its customers did not have to pay for benefits, services or products. The indictment charged that Shiloh Ministries raised revenue by charging customers for rent. The document also said the company claimed to offer worship services that were not actually conducted.
Prosecutors say Hope owes about $270,000 in unpaid taxes for the years 2001, 2002 and 2003. If convicted, Hope could face up to five years in prison in addition to fines.
It is not the pastor’s first brush with the law. In 1991 he was one of several defendants named in a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission accused of seeking to defraud investors by selling $20 million in debt while promising return rates of up to 60 percent a year. Hope and the other defendants settled the lawsuit, without admitting guilt, in 2000.
In 2002, Hope resigned after a tumultuous six-and-a-half year pastorate at Montrose Baptist Church in Rockville, Md. Church leaders said Hope had a conflict of interest because he set up a company to recruit foreign students to attend Montrose Christian School. While not alleging any criminal wrongdoing, church officials said the company owed the church’s school about $580,000.
Hope fired four senior staff members at the church who questioned his ties to the recruiting organization.
In 1997, Hope dismissed three Montrose Christian School employees who filed suit, claiming they were unfairly terminated because they were not church members. A judge ruled in their favor, but the ruling was overturned on appeal.
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