Melissa called Jim and he promptly agreed to join her. She agreed to pick him up on the way to the restaurant. When they arrived, the buzz of multiple conversations created enough white noise to protect the privacy of their conversation.
Melissa spotted the petite secretary and walked over to the table where she was sitting, while Jim went to order two iced teas. Melissa made some small talk with Rose until Jim returned and the conversation began in earnest.
Rose pulled out an envelope, which she opened and then emptied its contents on the table.
“Pastor Jeremiah, who will start going by Shepherd Jeremiah as of Friday, will announce that New Creation Fellowship will purchase and move into an old campground facility up in Crestline.”
“Buy a campground?” Melissa was bewildered. “Where’s he getting that kind of money? I’m sure the people who attend New Creation couldn’t afford to contribute much to a building program.”
“I recently discovered Pastor Jeremiah has been running a fairly sophisticated moneymaking scheme at New Creation. The plan is pretty simple, really. Along with pastoring the church, Jeremiah Harmon is also the president of N.C. Rehabilitation Inc., an organization that offers treatment for recovering drug addicts and alcoholics. He even has letterhead and brochures.” Rose pulled out samples and handed them to Melissa.
“Pretty impressive.” Jim nodded as the two glanced over the material.
“It is, isn’t it?” Rose continued her narrative. “The members of the church can’t afford to buy the campground, but many of them have wealthy relatives. And these relatives are used to paying for rehabilitation or detoxification programs.”
Jim recognized a scheme when he heard one. “So the good pastor is billing the rich relatives of his parishioners for rehab and detox services that are never provided?”
“Yep. Here are documents to prove it. These are copies of the actual billing statements. He charges $2,500 a month for ‘rehabilitation services’.”
“How many people are being billed?” Melissa asked.
“Right now, about 40.”
She quickly did the math in her head. “That’s about $100,000 a month!”
“Exactly. That’s how he can afford to buy his campground. You can keep these. I have another set in a safe place.”
“Why are you doing this?” Jim asked.
“Jeremiah Harmon is a single man and it’s no real secret he has asked several women in the church for their ‘special friendship’. He is sleeping with at least four of them right now, and he has asked me several times to provide him with the same services. I turned him down every time. Now he has stopped asking, but I don’t trust the way he looks at me. I’m sure I won’t be invited to join him at his little mountain getaway.” She paused. “If that’s the least that happens to me, I’ll be lucky.”
“Just out of curiosity, how many people are still attending New Creation?”
“People keep leaving and Pastor Jeremiah keeps pulling in new people off the street with his promises. I think we have maybe 50 people on an average Saturday night.”
“Do you think any of the former members would be willing to talk to us?” While Jim had written stories like this with only one source, he knew more people would add credence to the story.
Rose shook her head in reply. “Probably not. People are afraid of what will happen to them if they talk out.”
Sensing the interview was coming to an end, Melissa gently cupped her left had on top of Rose’s interlaced hands. “Thank you, Rose. For everything.”
“Melissa, this guy is pure evil. If you nail him on this, that’ll be thanks enough for me.”
15
8:11 a.m. Wednesday, September 3
Melissa was eager to get working when she got into the office. Armed with a large cup of coffee in her right hand and a computer printout, envelope and a legal pad under her left arm, she walked into the empty editorial conference room. The office manager told her there wasn’t a meeting scheduled in there until 10 a.m. Perfect. She would only need the room, specifically the large conference table, for the next 20-30 minutes.
Opening the manila envelope, she spread out the 20 pieces of paper that were inside onto the table. Rose had explained the enclosed invoices were only a small selection of the people who had been charged the monthly fee, but all of them were notable people in the community. Since she didn’t know all of the local bigwigs, Melissa compiled a two-page phone list of potential contacts culled from the master database of numbers of local civic officials that had been compiled by Courier reporters over the years. The legal pad was for collecting all of the miscellaneous facts into some cohesive unit.
Rose had done much of the legwork for her. According to the handwritten cover letter, while Pastor Jeremiah had endorsed all the checks, Rose had handled the majority of the bookkeeping. One day, she discovered the drawer where Jeremiah had kept his private files. He had a new lock placed on the drawer at the beginning of the fiscal year a couple of months prior, but as far as Rose knew, nothing had changed.
The next two pages were spread sheets that listed their monthly income from June. The names of 37 Fellowship members and the person responsible for paying the monthly fees were listed on the first page, with a total at the bottom. The second page included the names of the three major philanthropic organizations providing $10,000 a month in support. The final sheet was a monthly expense sheet.
Melissa got to work cross-referencing the names and addresses on the invoices with the phone book and her list, taking copious notes on it all. She barely noticed Jim when he walked in the room at 9 a.m.
“And I thought my income taxes were confusing.”
Melissa exhaled slowly. “I only wish it were that easy, or that innocent.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why hasn’t anyone blown the lid off of this by now? I mean, some of them might be fooled, but not everybody on this list can be that gullible. I’ve got an attorney, a judge, three city council members, a top-selling real estate agent, and a police chief, along with our run-of-the-mill folks. I’m not saying they are helping him outright, but some of them have to be going along willingly. Why?”
“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out. Let’s split the list up and call all these people. Somebody’s gotta crack.”
“What about Pastor Jeremiah?”
“That’s Shepherd Jeremiah now,” Jim chided with a sarcastic grin. “I think I will call him and see if he will agree to a phone interview. I’ll bet he’ll talk, just to try to prove he is smarter than I am. I can play his game and see if I can bluff him into thinking I’ve got more than I really do.”
“Who needs to bluff when we’ve got evidence like this? Besides, I thought you said if we gave him enough rope he would hang himself.”
“They usually do if they’re cocky without cause to be. Every once in a while they are smart enough, or lucky enough, to get away with it.”
“Which one is Jeremiah?”
Jim pondered the question for a moment. “I’ll let you know when I figure it out myself.”
—
5:49 p.m. Wednesday
Having called everyone on their respective lists, Jim and Melissa took over the conference room to compare notes. Melissa was very frustrated by the lack of results.
“Nobody would say anything. I mean nobody. Everybody was tight-lipped. I was lucky to get three words out of the whole bunch of them. They all thought the charges were ‘interesting’ or ‘surprising,’ but none of them sounded interested or surprised. The mayor of Diamond Bar even went so far as to suggest I was making the whole thing up. And all of them had nothing but nice things to say about Jeremiah Harmon. I mean they all said the same stuff, like they were reading off a script.”
Jim nodded. “I’ve seen that routine more than once. If Pastor Jeremiah is smart enough to cook up this scheme, then I’m sure he’s smart enough to figure out cover stories for people if somebody found out.”
Jim info
rmed Melissa he hadn’t fared much better. One of his contacts had actually seemed angered by the news, but the others had little reaction. There was one person left on his list, Larry Holcombe. Jim had a plan for getting the councilman to talk.
“I talked with Delores Holcombe today. I tried to impress upon her the importance of getting Larry to talk to us. She said she would talk to Larry and try to get him to call us back. I’ve got Ken covering my phone.” He paused. “I hope it works.”
They talked for a few more minutes until Ken quickly rapped his knuckles on the half-open door.
He poked his head inside. “Jim, Larry Holcombe’s on the phone.”
“I’ll let you know what I get out of our fine councilman.” Jim excused himself.
Returning to his desk, Jim opened up the Courier’s news writing program on his computer. While he was doing this, he plugged in his headset and picked up the receiver.
They exchanged greetings and the conversation paused.
“I’m only calling because Delores insisted on it.”
Jim could tell Larry was definitely agitated, but he wasn’t sure at whom. Play it careful, Jim.
“I’m glad you took her advice. I will make it nice and easy on both of us. I know Jeremiah Harmon has been raking in tens of thousands of dollars each month through a billing scam. I am trying to find out who knows what about the whole scheme. I know everybody isn’t as dumb as they have let on, but I can’t figure out why they are willing to go along with it.”
Larry waited a minute before answering. “Can we do this off the record?”
“I need to call you something. How about ‘an area businessman?’”
“That’s fine.”
“So, what do you know about this whole thing?”
“I don’t know about any agreements he might have with other people. I only know about our arrangement.”
“Go on.”
“Remember the robbery at my store a couple of summers ago?”
Jim thought for a moment. “Oh yeah. A guy in a ski mask comes in and tries to rob the place. The two employees in the shop tripped the alarm and stalled him long enough for the police to get there and arrest him. There were a couple of shots fired too, as I remember. Anyway, the police and employees were praised for their heroic efforts and given some awards.”
“Very good memory, Mr. Mitchell. What never made it to the papers was the fact those two employees, Don and Randy, were getting paid under the table. They were a couple of Angela’s friends who needed work for the summer. They didn’t care about medical benefits or anything like that, and I thought I was doing them a favor by hiring them.
“One day I made a run to the cleaners to pick up my suit, and the store gets robbed. I wasn’t gone more than 15 minutes. When I got back and found out what happened, I was just glad no one was hurt. I had told Don and Randy before not to tell people about the nature of their employment. I reminded them that afternoon to keep quiet, but of course they bragged to their friends about the whole incident. Only Angela knew their employment status.”
Larry took a deep breath and then continued.
“So about a month after Angela starts up at New Creation, I get a call from Pastor Jeremiah, who proceeds to tell me he knows all about my little arrangement with Don and Randy. That was really kind of creepy. Then he tells me how bad it would be for me if people found out the ‘city heroes’ would not even have been able to pay for hospital treatment if they had been hurt. Then he starts talking about the wonderful things that were happening through New Creation Fellowship and how nice it would be if I could help this fine program. This guy even thought he was being slick. My uncle was a cop, so I knew this was nothing more than a shakedown.”
“Good, old-fashioned blackmail, eh? So why did you go along with the plan?”
“To be honest, I was worried about the potential litigation. Don and Randy could have sued the pants off me, not to mention what would happen when the state got involved. My reputation and livelihood would have been destroyed. It was cheaper to just give him what he wanted.” Larry sighed heavily.
“How long have you been making payments?”
“Since July of last year. Three thousands dollars every month.”
“Have you tried to change the terms of this arrangement?”
Larry shook his head. “When I started making my payments he warned me about how bad of an idea trying to ‘negotiate’ was. He told me he made the same arrangement with dozens of other people and he had no compunction about dealing very harshly with anyone who blew the whistle on his little operation.”
“I know this may sound stupid, but then why are you talking to me?”
His lowered voice was drained of emotion. “This man is dangerous and I want him out of business. I know you can make that happen.”
“I’ll do what I can.” Jim was shocked by Larry’s words. Am I really that powerful?
After the conversation ended, Jim briefed Melissa on what the councilman said. She was surprised by how candid Larry was. “I can’t believe he told you all that.”
“He’s afraid Jeremiah will ruin his life.” Jim thought for a moment. “You know, I think we’ve got too much stuff to squeeze into one story. How about we split things up? I can write my column on this little scam while you cover the church move. I’ll grill him about the scam and you can ask follow-up questions at the press conference.”
“What press conference? Rose said they were just going to send out a press release.”
“We have been on his trail for months. If he is as much a control freak as we think he is, Jeremiah will be putting more spin on this than a pitcher throwing a slider.”
They spent Thursday morning working separately. Jim was working on his column while Melissa was reviewing her notes and their stories on the group and its leader. Right after lunch, Dan forwarded her an email from New Creation. It was addressed to “Metro Editor” and announced a Friday press conference to discuss the future of the church. She sent a copy over to Jim and then walked over to his desk to discuss it.
“See, what did I tell you?” Jim read the message. “Angela De La Cruz is listed as the contact for this story. It looks like Rose has been replaced with someone who was more willing to accept his direction.”
“You mean his advances.”
“With guys like Jeremiah, they are the same thing,” Jim replied. “I have an idea.” He dialed the number on the press release.
“New Creation Fellowship, this is Angela. How may I help you?”
Jim hung up without speaking. “Well, Angela’s answering the phones so I think it’s safe to say she is the new secretary.”
“I wonder what other changes he has up his sleeve?”
“I guess you’ll find out on Friday.”
As Melissa returned to working on her story, Jim called the New Creation office again. He identified himself and asked to speak with Pastor Jeremiah. She said he had only a couple of minutes, and Jim said that was all he needed.
“Let’s make this quick, OK, Mr. Mitchell?” Jim deduced by the coolness of his tone that Pastor Jeremiah would be of little real help.
“I’m running a column on what appears to be a rather complex billing scam going on with N.C. Rehabilitation Inc., which my sources tell me is nothing more than a front for a moneymaking scheme which benefits you to the tune of a hundred thousand dollars a month. What is your response to that?
Jeremiah spit out a reply. “Who told you that?”
“I don’t reveal my sources, Pastor Jeremiah—“
“That’s Shepherd Jeremiah.” His reply dripped with condescension.
“OK, Shepherd Jeremiah. As I was saying, what my sources are telling me makes a whole lot of sense. All I want is your reaction to these allegations.”
Jim could hear Jeremiah inhale deeply. “Mr. Mitchell, there are many people who, for whatever reason, do not like the success I am having with my flock. Some have even made it their mission to cause trouble for me. I have do
ne nothing to deserve it and frankly I don’t understand it.” He paused. “Let’s be perfectly clear: I have done nothing to deserve this vicious attack against my reputation. I care about the people I minister to and nothing will get in the way of my work. Nothing!”
“So, you deny the allegations?” Jim wanted to nail him down.
“I think I have already answered that question.”
No you haven’t, Jim said to himself. Realizing he would get no more new information, he thanked the pastor for his time and hung up. Driven by his frustration over the verbal sparring he just participated in, Jim furiously wrote his column. If this doesn’t ruffle his feathers, nothing will.
MAKE ME AN OFFER, SHEPHERD JEREMIAH
By James T. Mitchell
The Courier has been really interested lately in Shepherd Jeremiah Harmon and his work at New Creation Fellowship. The pastor has boasted about the positive impact his church is having in the lives of recovering alcoholics and drug addicts.
But he has left out a few details, like his past life of crime.
And now it seems Shepherd Jeremiah has forgotten to mention something else. He has forgotten how to be honest. He is willing to blow off allegations he is blackmailing about $100,000 each month out of loving relatives of New Creation members to pay for treatment their family members never receive. He dances around the charges, despite paperwork provided to the Courier and personal accounts that verify those internal New Creation Fellowship documents.
It looks like Jeremiah Harmon is up to his old tricks again. But this time he is hiding behind the veil of faith and religion to do it.
Shame on you!
Jim explained Larry Holcombe’s situation in vague terms, making sure no one could identify the particular incident or the persons involved. Then he hammered Jeremiah for his deceptive practices. Jim was relentless, pounding away at the false piety and stripping away the layers of lies. And of course, Jim threw in a final zinger.
Chasing Deception Page 13