Judge refuses to reduce bond in church fraud trials

An Indiana judge today declined to reduce the $1.5 million cash bonds for a former pastor and his sons charged with bilking
church members nationwide out of millions of dollars.

Special Judge Dena Martin said 65-year-old Vaughn Reeves
Sr. and his three sons failed to show why their bonds should be lowered. Sullivan County Prosecutor Bob Hunley had argued
the men were flight risks, noting all four had moved out of state after a federal judge in 2005 froze their company’s assets
and appointed a receiver following a lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"These men stole
from thousands of investors in the name of God," Hunley said in a prepared statement. "It has been our position
all along that they are a flight risk and that 1.5 million dollars is the appropriate bond."

Defense attorneys
did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment. Prosecutors say Reeves and his three sons — Chip, 44; Chris,
40; and Josh, 32 — set up a company called Alanar Inc. and used it to dupe church members into a Ponzi scheme that played
on their faith. They are accused of urging the members to purchase bonds to support church construction projects and using
the money to buy themselves planes and sports cars.

They are accused of duping about 11,000 people into buying bonds
worth $120 million, diverting money from new investments to pay off previous investors and pocketing about $6 million.

Officials say the scheme operated mainly in Indiana, though church members in other states, including Florida, Michigan,
Maryland and Oklahoma, also were victimized.

Defense attorneys are seeking to have the charges dismissed, saying
the five-year statute of limitations has expired since the alleged scheme early this decade. But prosecutors argue that deadline
should run from 2005, when they became aware of the scheme and when the bonds matured.

A hearing is set for Nov.
6. Martin last week granted defense motions to select jurors from other counties but held off on deciding where the men’s
trials should be held. Hunley wants the trial to be held in Sullivan, about 25 miles south of Terre Haute, where Alanar was
based.