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BUILDING FUND SCAM: Band of Thieves steals millions at church.
According to the Indianapolis Star, Vaugn Reeves, 65, and three of his sons have been charged with ten felony counts. Reeves' sons - Chip, 44; Chris, 40; and Josh, 32 - also could face two to eight years each in prison on each count if convicted. Although the men have last known addresses in Ohio, Iowa and Kentucky, they were released under a $1.5 million bond each. Now U.S. marshals are tracing their whereabouts.
Court records show the bandits told their would-be victims it was their "Christian responsibility" to support church construction projects, then pocketed about $6 million, bought two airplanes, sports cars and vacations. Reeves also bought Porsches for family members. Most of the men's victims lived in Indiana.
Investigators believe the men assembled teams of church members to sell bonds to other church members. They were given training materials that instructed them to open sales calls with a prayer and to quote scripture. As the scheme progressed over about five years, the Reeveses shuffled incoming money between various accounts to hide defaults by churches and their own thefts so they could make scheduled interest payments to investors.
"People trusted their life savings to these men," Sullivan County Prosecutor Robert Hunley II said in a statement. "Investors felt they were helping to build churches, not buy the Reeveses expensive homes, fancy cars, airplanes and swimming pools."
In a separate civil case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, a federal judge in 2005 froze all assets pending an investigation
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