Centennial – The Rev. Acen Phillips, charged with multiple theft and forgery counts related to insurance fraud, doesn’t have enough money to hire an attorney.
Phillips made his initial appearance Wednesday in Arapahoe County District Court on accusations that he stole or attempted to steal more than $575,000 by making bogus life-insurance claims to AIG Life Insurance Co.
Attorney Gary Lozow, who has represented Phillips in the past, appeared in court with Phillips, whom he said was struggling to raise enough money to secure an attorney.
Judge Anne Ollada set a court date for Oct. 16, at which time Phillips’ legal representation will be determined.
Several family members and friends accompanied Phillips to the hearing, including community activist Alvertis Simmons.
“We just hope and pray that the victims are taken care of and that the Rev. Phillips is treated fairly,” Simmons said. “These are some serious charges. I hope that what they say happened to those people didn’t happen.”
The Colorado attorney general’s office says Phillips forged the signatures of at least five people, some of whom had died, and then backdated the documents to make his church and charitable organizations the beneficiary of their life- insurance policies.
The alleged victims were members of Mount Gilead Baptist Church and New Birth Church. Phillips was pastor at both.
Attorney General John Suthers filed seven counts of theft and five counts of forgery against Phillips in August and said there were others who were duped by the pastor.
Phillips is accused of stealing or attempting to steal more than $575,000 between July 2005 and May 2006.
One theft and forgery charge involves Shelley Lowe. She was the girlfriend of Aaron Thompson, who has been indicted in the death of his 6-year-old daughter, Aaroné, who was reported missing in November 2005. Lowe died in 2006 from a heart attack.
Sam Riddle, who was a spokesman for the family after the girl’s disappearance, never believed Lowe had taken a life- insurance policy on herself naming Phillips or his church as a beneficiary.
