A former bishop pleaded guilty Tuesday (July 15) to funneling money and property from AME Zion Church to himself, with a congregation in Palo Alto among the victims.
Staccato Powell, 65, of Wake Forest, N.C., worked with Sheila Quintana, 71, of Vallejo, to take out loans with AME Zion Church properties as collateral, federal prosecutors said.
Powell yesterday admitted to fraudulently obtaining mortgages on church properties in Los Angeles, Oakland, San Jose, Vallejo and Palo Alto.
Between 2017 and July 2021, Powell and Quintana worked together to get pastors to sign over the deeds of various churches so Powell and Quintana could list the properties as collateral in high-interest loans totaling about $14 million, according to federal prosecutors.
Palo Alto church
In the case of the Palo Alto church at 3549 Middlefield Road, Powell in 2017 told the pastor that the location would be used as collateral to help the Sacramento location pay off some debts. Powell told the Palo Alto pastor the loan would be no more than $200,000.
But loans totaling $3.6 million were taken out using the Palo Alto church as collateral, according to the Department of Justice.
The loan money was used by Powell and Quintana to benefit themselves. For instance, Powell used $14,000 to pay down the mortgage debt on his home in North Carolina and used an undisclosed amount to buy more land for his home, the indictment states.
He also bought property for two of his children, prosecutors said.
Powell was “disrobed” by AME Zion’s leadership on July 29, 2021.
AME Zion Church is an historically African-American denomination with about 1.4 million adherents worldwide, prosecutors said.
Powell will be sentenced on Sept. 23 and faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.