Ministries leader sent to prison

Convicted on state charges, a former Greater Ministries elder still faces federal trial in the bilking of elderly investors.

The Tampa Tribune, June 17, 1999
By Michael Fechter

TAMPA - Prayers and offers of money from the faithful weren't enough to keep Patrick Henry Talbert from prison Wednesday, when a judge's sentence seemed to stun about 50 supporters who had quietly prayed and offered ``amen'' affirmations in hopes of his freedom.

Circuit Judge Ralph Steinberg sentenced Talbert to 10 years in prison. The defendant's wife, Deborah, wept, and supporters grumbled, some saying a bigger Judgment Day was coming.

Nobody disputed that 11 senior citizens lost $256,000 investing in Talbert's DTA Trust in 1994.

At issue for Steinberg was how to best serve justice. People in prison can't make restitution.

The judge deemed co-defendant Norman Lower ``a relatively minor participant.'' Lower received an eight-year suspended sentence and was ordered to pay restitution.

A jury convicted the two April 30 on 38 counts of racketeering, conspiracy and securities fraud.

Talbert and Lower promoted DTA Trust, known alternately as Down Town Auto and Diversified Telecommunications Agency. Prosecutors claim the program was a sham and that the defendants and their families spent much of the money.

The two men maintain their innocence and argued that the investments would have worked out had other parties delivered promised goods and capital.

``Had these businesses succeeded, these investors would be asking for a parade instead of prison,'' Lower's attorney, Marcelino Huerta, said.

Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Lori Doganiero painted Talbert as a predator using faith to swindle the elderly out of their savings.

The program was independent of Greater Ministries, where Talbert worked as an elder when arrested in 1997. He and six other Greater Ministries officials face an August trial on federal conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering charges.

When Doganiero and public defender Mike Connell heatedly debated whether Talbert could be freed during an appeal, several Talbert supporters hollered ``sit down'' at Doganiero.

It ends a quirky two-year case in which Talbert identified himself as a sovereign citizen outside the state's jurisdiction; refused to respond unless identified in court papers as Patrick-Henry: Talbert, Jr.; and claimed diplomatic immunity as an ambassador from the Kingdom of Heaven.

He spent four months arguing those claims from a Hillsborough County Jail cell. Later, Talbert accepted a public defender to fight the state charges.

Talbert took his securities case to an unofficial ``ecclesiastical court'' in Longwood last year. Victims were offered church-financed restitution if they agreed not to pursue the state charges.

None accepted, and a judge ordered the effort stopped.

Two pastors made similar offers Wednesday. Rev. Samuel Kirkland of New Orleans Baptist Church, 1109 E. Osborne St., Tampa, and Pastor Richard Mooneyhan of the National Christian Ecclesiastical Council in Hawthorne said their followers would help Talbert repay the victims.

After Talbert was sentenced to prison, Mooneyhan declined to say whether the council still would offer restitution.