DENVER — A Fox31 Denver News hidden camera investigation reveals several area church congregations are praying for a man who is accused of preying on churches.
Fox 31 Denver has tracked down five Colorado church pastors who claim they were duped by copy machine salesman Greg Mosher.
Pastor Pat Barnes with Faith Mountain in Lakewood said Mosher scammed his congregation out of $10,000. Barnes said, “I think ripping off anybody is just wrong.” \
Pastor Jimmy Smith of Stapleton Fellowship Church is another one of the alleged victims. Pastor Smith said Mosher convinced him to trade his church’s old copy machine for a new one.
In a written contract, Mosher promised to “pay off the existing lease with the bank … and provide a check in the amount of $24,246.”
The check was supposed to cover what was owed on the old copier, but the check never arrived.
Stapleton Fellowship Church owed $24,246 for the old copier and $41,517 for the new machine. “We were totally taken advantage of and ripped off. We called him multiple times, there was excuse after excuse after excuse and ultimately he just disappeared,” said Pastor Smith.
But the Fox31 Denver investigative team found Mosher was not gone for good.
The copier salesman opened a new business in Parker called Gift Wrapped Copiers International.
According to Gift Wrapped Copiers’ web page, the company boasts about a “gifting program” where Mosher donates copiers to churches. We tried to track down Mosher at the office, but only found a padlocked door.
A Littleton Pastor, who is friends with some of Mosher’s alleged victims, opened his church doors to the copier salesman.
Pastor Mark Kraakevik allowed Fox31 Denver to set up hidden cameras inside The Edge, a church on Garrison Street in Littleton.
We made an appointment with Mosher so he could take a look at the church’s copier machine. Mosher then offered a deal that sounded too good to be true. “That’s going to put almost $13,000 back into this church,” Mosher said.
He said if Pastor Kraakevik signed a lease on a new copier for $200 a month, Mosher would personally make a monthly $200 donation to the church. “We are going to put $13,000 back into this church and for the next 12 months I need tithing envelopes because the money that I save you … is going to come back to a tithe for the next 12 months from my company.” Mosher said.
KDVR Investigative Reporter Heidi Hemmat introduced herself to Mosher and said, “We have heard from several churches that you have scammed them out of tens of thousands of dollars.”
Mosher said, “It’s absolutely false.” Hemmat asked, “So, all these churches that have contacted us are lying?” Mosher claimed “he” was the victim of a bad economy and he admitted some churches lost money.
Hemmat asked, “Do you have any plans to pay back all of these churches?” Mosher said, “I am very glad you asked that because, as a matter of fact, that is in our business plan.”
Mosher said he had made plans to pay back some of his alleged victims, but to this day, none of the pastors we talked to have heard from him.
Pastor Barnes knows exactly what he would do, if he ever got his church’s $10,000 back. He would fill the church’s food pantry. Barnes said, “We would feed a lot of people.”
But, Barnes is not bitter and instead he is praying for the man who preyed on his church. “I pray that he would come to the realization that what he is doing is wrong and choose to do right,” Barnes said.
Mosher said he is trying to resolve the issues with his alleged victims and would like them to contact him through the following email address: DC.accnt.quetions2010@gmail.com.
