Financial Allegations Against Danny Shelton
On January 18, 2007, 3ABN president Danny Shelton and company did yet another special damage-control 3ABN Live broadcast.
The participants on the broadcast scoffed at the idea that there was any sort of criminal investigation going on.
They stated that board member Carmelita Troy, whose specialty is fraud detection and who teaches accounting at
a government institution, had not found anything, and if she hadn't found anything, there must not be
anything there.
This appears to be a good argument to use against the financial allegations that have been circulating for a long,
long time. However, a source close to the situation has informed us that Troy, as of a couple months ago, had
relied upon the auditor's statements, and had not looked at the books for herself.
Of course, there are quite a few things to check for, and thus quite a bit for authorities to investigate in the
future, if it really is true that they aren't investigating now. For example, according to sources close to
the administration of 3ABN:
- Danny allegedly purchased a three-year-old van using 3ABN funds, and then sold it to a family member for $10.
- Danny allegedly purchased furniture with 3ABN funds for a 3ABN set, and on the way back to 3ABN had the moving crew put it in his own house instead. His existing furniture was what ended up on the set.
- Danny allegedly purchased furniture for a guest house for E.C. at nearly new prices from his sister, Tammy Shelton Chance, allowing her to get new furniture for her home. But since Brenda Walsh didn't like the furniture, Danny gave it to two different family members instead, and 3ABN bought all new furniture for the guest house.
- A $10,000 love gift check from 3ABN was allegedly sent to Tommy Shelton in 1999, at a time when Tommy was pastoring the Community Church of God in Dunn Loring, Virginia.
What the love gift was used for is uncertain, but questions have been raised as to whether it was used
to pay off yet another Tommy Shelton child molestation victim.
Perhaps there wasn't any problem using 3ABN funds to purchase a van and furniture for the benefit of
Shelton family members if they worked at 3ABN, and if the benefit appeared on their W-2's. But according
to some sources, such things don't end up on W-2's.
When folks have these type of questions of this serious of a nature, it would seem that the logical thing to do
would be to just open the books and let everyone see them. To not do so raises the question as to whether these
allegations just might be true. And if the allegations are false, and Danny has nothing to hide, he wouldn't
have anything to worry about if he did so.
Sooner or later, with allegations of this nature swirling around, one would expect the authorities to join the fray
and start asking questions too. 501(c)3 non-profit organizations are not allowed to use donor funds in this manner, and
3ABN could lose its non-profit status if these allegations prove true.
How will allegations of this sort affect the giving patterns of 3ABN's donors? If Danny Shelton continues to
refuse to answer questions in a professional, open manner, will donors demand a house cleaning
before they give any more?
|
