A former bishop and lay leader of an historically African American church have been charged with defrauding California congregations by mortgaging their properties in order to obtain $14 million in loans they used for personal expenses, authorities said yesterday, the Associated Press reported. A federal indictment unsealed yesterday accuses Staccato Powell of Wake Forest, N.C., and Sheila Quintana of Vallejo, Calif., of conspiracy and wire fraud, with Powell also charged with mail fraud, the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of California said in a statement. The indictment said Powell and Quintana set up Western Episcopal District, Inc., and used the entity to illegally obtain grant deeds to properties owned by congregations in Oakland, San Jose, Palo Alto and Los Angeles. The congregations had little or no mortgage debt until the pair, without permission, used their real estate as collateral to obtain more than $14 million in high-interest loans, prosecutors said. Western Episcopal District, Inc. filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 and listed among its assets 11 churches in California, Arizona and Colorado, authorities said.
