Posted on 11/21/2006 6:00:09 PM PST by Dubya
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A church that wanted to do something special for Hurricane Katrina victims gave a $75,000 house, free and clear, to a couple who said they were left homeless by the storm. But the couple turned around and sold the place without ever moving in, and went back to New Orleans.
"Take it up with God," an unrepentant Joshua Thompson told a TV reporter after it was learned that he and the woman he identified as his wife had flipped the home for $88,000.
Church members said they feel their generosity was abused by scam artists. They are no longer even sure that the couple were left homeless by Katrina or that they were a couple at all.
"They came in humble like they really needed a new start, and our hearts went out to them," said Jean Phillips, a real estate agent and member of the Temple of Deliverance Church of God in Christ. "They actually begged for the home."
The church was also shocked by an ungrateful interview the couple gave with WHBQ-TV in Memphis.
"I really don't like this area," said Delores Thompson. "I really didn't, and I didn't know anybody, so that's why I didn't move in and I sold it."
Thompson, reached at a New Orleans phone number by The Associated Press on Tuesday, thanked the church for its generosity but said she saw nothing wrong in selling the three-bedroom, two-bath house.
"Do I have any legal problems? What do you mean? The house was given to me," she said. "I have the paperwork and everything."
She refused further comment and hung up.
The church had decided that it would do something special for one Katrina-displaced family, in addition to its other efforts to help evacuees. The church set up a committee to find the right family and conducted several dozen interviews.
Delores Thompson, who did most of the talking for her family, told the committee that she had lost her job as a nurse and that her husband had lost an import-export business in New Orleans, committee member Joy Covington said.
The committee also heard how the family had lost its home and most of its possessions and how the children, a 14-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy, were eager to get back in school. The family said it wanted to resettle in Memphis.
After the church settled on Thompson, real estate agent Phillips helped her pick out the house she wanted, and it was bought in Thompson's name. She took possession in February and sold it in September. Property transfer records for the resale list her as unmarried; the papers from the original sale list her as married.
"I feel like it was a sham or a ripoff," Covington said.
The church hasn't discussed legal action, but the members are upset because the house could have gone to a more needy family, Covington said.
Thompson claimed she and her family were living in an apartment supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but did not invite Phillips over during the house search.
"She didn't want me coming over there," Phillips said. "She'd say, `I'll meet you.'"
Covington's husband, Edward, said the family had been listed by FEMA as displaced. But he said the church took Thompson's word for it that their house was destroyed.
That is how I am thinking too. I said that in my last post, if they had even lived in it I would understand this better. But they didn't. I think it was a scam from the beginning. Did you see the video? That was just too much for me. The husband or whatever he is was a total moron in it. I posted the link to it.
I've always believed welfare recipients were unworthy of charity. My taxes already pay for them to get the best healthcare in the world, free rent, food and other things a "poor" person in almost any other country could only dream of getting.
Making it a legal loan would have prevented this.
Maybe they will be on "Flip that House".
Since they brought it up, I have to wonder if they tithed on their profits? If they did I guess they did ok. If they didnt then they are the ones who need to take it up with God.
What a couple of a$$holes.
Nice house for 75 grand though!
"They will probably just let the Lord handle it. I doubt they want to get into an ugly court battle"
Don't bet on it. This is COGIC, they're Jerry Springer types. Whoever argues loudest and longest wins
Happens to the federal government (the idiots) to the tune of billions and billions of dollars every year.
It was a very nice house and she picked it out , thats why I really believe it was a scam from the get go. Shame on this couple. A family truly in need would have had the start of a new life there. Its very sad people do things like this.
The tax man will get them.
Pimp mah crib!
Pimp mah crib!
I thought it was Export-Import....
I thought it was Export-Import....
Setting aside issues of fraud, there is nothing wrong whatsoever with selling a house given under such circumstances.
"Maybe the publicity can get the IRS on them."
-- --
SHHHHHhhh!!
Wait until April 16, 2007 to report them to the IRS. A little time in the GrayBar Hotel will help them out, I'm sure.
It was a nice thing for the church to do. But, anyone who did anything had to realize that most people who lived in NO loved it there, and would return to that environment if they could.
I wonder what ever happened to the NO evacuees who were accepted with open arms in Utah?
Point is, the help shouldn't be a prison sentence for these people. Free rent for a year or so in the new house might've made more sense.
It's not a question of what is legal, but what is moral.
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