Former pastor jailed for fraud faces attempted murder charges
NORRISTOWN — A former Pottstown pastor jailed Friday for writing a $ 111,000 bad check to buy a Mercedes Benz still faces federal bank fraud and attempted murder charges in Philadelphia, according to court testimony.
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"It looks like I'm going to be incarcerated for a long period of time," Michael A. Wilkerson Sr. conceded in Montgomery County Court on Friday as his legal issues were outlined for a judge by prosecutors and his defense lawyer. "I understand I have some serious trouble there."
Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Abidiwan-Lupo, referring to a presentence investigation of Wilkerson, told a judge that Wilkerson still faces a charge of attempted murder stemming from an alleged domestic-related incident during which he had a violent confrontation with a female friend's boyfriend in Philadelphia. Additional information about the pending Philadelphia charges was not available.
Last month, Wilkerson, 45, formerly of East Coventry, was indicted in federal court on charges of bank fraud in connection with an alleged scheme to fraudulently obtain $ 6 million in home loans for properties in Schwenksville and Glenmoore between 2006 and 2008.
Wilkerson's wife, Joyce, age unavailable, Lee Garell, a real estate broker with Long & Foster, and Denise Haines, 45, of Birdsboro, Berks County, a mortgage broker with American Group Mortgage Corporation, each face identical charges for their alleged roles in the scheme, according to the 10-page federal indictment.
Wilkerson, the founder and former pastor of the Freedom Christian Deliverance Center on Walnut Street in Pottstown and a former television evangelist on PCTV, operated a real estate development business known as Agape Development Co., of which his wife was part owner, according to the indictment.
As part of a scheme to defraud Chase Manhattan Bank, the Wilkersons, Garell and Haines misled mortgage lenders into funding loans total! ing abou t $ 6.3 million for the purchase of houses by falsifying mortgage loan documents, according to U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger.
A federal trial date has not yet been set.
In September 2002, Wilkerson, who most recently was pastor of New Millennium Life Restoration Fellowship in Phoenixville and Spring City, was sentenced in Berks County Court to three-to-14-years in state prison after he pleaded guilty to theft- and fraud-related charges in connection with duping contractors who performed work on his planned $ 1.7 million mansion on Red Corner Road in Union Township out of thousands of dollars. Continued...
Wilkerson, according to state corrections officials, was paroled after serving his minimum sentence on Sept. 26, 2005. He was on parole at the time of his most recent arrests and therefore faces a parole violation hearing at which he could be sentenced to additional prison time.
In 2001, the reverend, who once lived in the 100 block of Hanover Drive in Upper Pottsgrove, was sentenced to one year of probation after he pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. Wilkerson was arrested at his Upper Pottsgrove home after he allegedly refused to hand over property that had been levied upon, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Upper Pottsgrove police said Wilkerson was advised that if he failed to turn over the property, he would be arrested. Wilkerson then allegedly advised authorities he would rather be arrested, according to court documents.
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NORRISTOWN — A former Pottstown pastor jailed Friday for writing a $ 111,000 bad check to buy a Mercedes Benz still faces federal bank fraud and attempted murder charges in Philadelphia, according to court testimony.
"It looks like I'm going to be incarcerated for a long period of time," Michael A. Wilkerson Sr. conceded in Montgomery County Court on Friday as his legal issues were outlined for a judge by prosecutors and his defense lawyer. "I understand I have some serious trouble there."
Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Abidiwan-Lupo, referring to a presentence investigation of Wilkerson, told a judge that Wilkerson still faces a charge of attempted murder stemming from an alleged domestic-related incident during which he had a violent confrontation with a female friend's boyfriend in Philadelphia. Additional information about the pending Philadelphia charges was not available.
Last month, Wilkerson, 45, formerly of East Coventry, was indicted in federal court on charges of bank fraud in connection with an alleged scheme to fraudulently obtain $ 6 million in home loans for properties in Schwenksville and Glenmoore between 2006 and 2008.
Wilkerson's wife, Joyce, age unavailable, Lee Garell, a real estate broker with Long & Foster, and Denise Haines, 45, of Birdsboro, Berks County, a mortgage broker with American Group Mortgage Corporation, each face identical charges for their alleged roles in the scheme, according to the 10-page federal indictment.
Wilkerson, the founder and former pastor of the Freedom Christian Deliverance Center on Walnut Street in Pottstown and a former television evangelist on PCTV, operated a real estate development business known as Agape Development Co., of which his wife was part owner, according to the indictment.
As part of a scheme to defraud Chase Manhattan Bank, the Wilkersons, Garell and Haines misled mortgage lenders into funding loans total! ing abou t $ 6.3 million for the purchase of houses by falsifying mortgage loan documents, according to U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger.
A federal trial date has not yet been set.
In September 2002, Wilkerson, who most recently was pastor of New Millennium Life Restoration Fellowship in Phoenixville and Spring City, was sentenced in Berks County Court to three-to-14-years in state prison after he pleaded guilty to theft- and fraud-related charges in connection with duping contractors who performed work on his planned $ 1.7 million mansion on Red Corner Road in Union Township out of thousands of dollars.
Wilkerson, according to state corrections officials, was paroled after serving his minimum sentence on Sept. 26, 2005. He was on parole at the time of his most recent arrests and therefore faces a parole violation hearing at which he could be sentenced to additional prison time.
In 2001, the reverend, who once lived in the 100 block of Hanover Drive in Upper Pottsgrove, was sentenced to one year of probation after he pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. Wilkerson was arrested at his Upper Pottsgrove home after he allegedly refused to hand over property that had been levied upon, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Upper Pottsgrove police said Wilkerson was advised that if he failed to turn over the property, he would be arrested. Wilkerson then allegedly advised authorities he would rather be arrested, according to court documents.
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