Missouri Church Officials, Others Accused of $1.2 Million Pandemic Loan Fraud

A Monroe County, Missouri church official was arrested Friday after having been indicted and accused of participating in a more than $1.2 million pandemic loan fraud scheme.

Kenneth C. Sparks III, 54, was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in Florida. A grand jury indicted Sparks on July 17 with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, eight counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft.

The indictment says at the time of the allegations, Sparks worked as a visiting minister at Faith Walk Ministry, a church in Paris, Missouri. Harold G. Long was the lead minister and chief executive officer of the church, Mya M. McClain was administrative assistant and Javonte D. Long was a member. Jeffrey C. Oboite lived in Maryland, and operated businesses called Angel's Management Group LLC, Emerald Score LLC and O&S Construction LLC.

Oboite and McClain were indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and seven counts of wire fraud. Harold Long faces one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Javonte Long faces one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud.

The indictment says Oboite taught Sparks and McClain how to submit fraudulent applications for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. Oboite and Sparks both submitted or caused to be submitted fraudulent loan applications in their own names, and received at least $200,000, the indictment says. Included among those fraudulently-obtained loans was $147,900 from the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, the indictment says. The EIDL program was another Small Business Administration program intended to help struggling business owners during the pandemic.

The conspirators also obtained more than $1 million in PPP loans in the names of others, the indictment says. Sparks abused his position of authority as a minister by obtaining the trust of church members, and then obtained their personal and financial information so he could seek loans in their name, the indictment says. Harold Long assured church members that Sparks could be trusted with that information, the indictment says. Sparks also claimed that he was an "Apostle" of God, whose decisions and decrees could not be questioned, it says. Sparks sometimes told church members that they needed to provide their personal and financial information so he and others could fix their credit scores, the indictment says, or that their information would be used to secure funding for the church. Sparks told McClain to create email addresses in the name of church members and told parishioners to open new accounts at a credit union, it says. Sparks also commissioned the creation of false and fraudulent tax documents, the indictment says.

Sparks and Oboite also told McClain and Harold Long to submit fraudulent PPP loan applications for businesses purportedly owned by Long, the indictment says.

When suspicious credit union officials froze some of the parishioners' accounts, Sparks and Oboite coached church members on the lies they should tell bank officials to free the funds, the indictment says.

Sparks reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars from the scheme, the indictment says, and used the money for luxury vehicles, clothing and merchandise.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Each aggravated identity theft count carries a mandatory, consecutive two-year prison sentence.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case.

"This arrest proves the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's commitment to stopping those who perpetrate mail fraud schemes," said Acting Inspector in Charge, John Jackman, who leads the United States Postal Inspection Service, St. Louis Field Office. "The Postal Inspection Service and its law enforcement partners will continue to aggressively pursue fraudsters who are driven by greed."

"We all know the pandemic relief loan programs were created for those whose businesses were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The American public is tired of hearing about fraudsters using the programs to enrich themselves and they want to know that those responsible are being investigated and held accountable," said IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Thomas F. Murdock, St. Louis Field Office. "IRS CI is committed to investigating these crimes and doing our part to achieve justice for all victims and taxpayers."

Anyone with information about pandemic fraud should call the Department of Justice's National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or report via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.