Pastor Swiped A Church, State Says

NEW HAVEN (CN) - The Rev. Willie McKay and his Love Temple Church of Christ in Prayer Inc. swiped a church from its rightful owners by falsely claiming to be "it's (sic) pastor duly authorized," the Connecticut Attorney General claims in Superior Court.

The church in Hamden actually belongs to the Macedonian Pentecostal Church, and "Willie E. McKay was neither Pastor nor a member of Macedonia when he executed the 2005 Deed, nor at any other time prior or subsequent to December 2005 when the 2005 Deed was executed and recorded," Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says.

Blumenthal says McKay had the property transferred to his name "without the knowledge or authorization of the Pastor, the membership, or any other governing authority of Macedonia," which has owned and run the church on Butler Street since 1965.

The day McKay recorded the deed, co-defendant Foundation Capital Resources, a Georgia corporation that operates out of Jackson, Miss., "granted a mortgage loan to Love Temple against Macedonia's Butler Street Property in apparent reliance on Willie E. McKay's misrepresentations," Blumenthal says.

The loan of $1.15 million was given "in exchange for Love Temple's right, title and interest in the Butler Street Property and also for Love Temple's right, title and interest in its present 75 Fresh Meadow Road, West Haven, Connecticut church property and an adjacent residential property at 73 Fresh Meadow Road. Willie W. McKay purchased both of the Fresh Meadow Road, West Haven properties on behalf of Love Temple on the same date the Mortgage Loan was executed," Blumenthal says.

McKay claims to run another church on the Fresh Meadow Road property, called Love Tabernacle Church Inc., the attorney general says. McKay also runs a for-profit business out of the same address, called LTC Productions, the suit states.

In September 2007, Foundation Capital Resources foreclosed on the loan. On Jan. 29 this year it ordered the Macedonian Church to vacate the building, by dumping a notice through the church mail slot, "without envelope or postage. The form notice wrongly represents that the name of the landlord of the Butler Street Property is 'Dr. Willie McKay, Lizzie G. McKay & Love Temple Church' and is signed by Dr. Willie McKay and Lizzie G. McKay," the attorney general says.

Blumenthal says Foundation Capital and Love Temple have no rights to the church on Butler Road, that McKay illegally misappropriated it, and that Macedonia gets it back.

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