Allegations Against Irvine TV Evangelist Investigated

Irvine police said Monday they are investigating allegations that TV evangelist Richard Hogue may have misappropriated church money while pastor of Metrochurch, the Irvine church that he quit abruptly last week on the eve of its first anniversary.

A day earlier, Hogue’s resignation was announced before several hundred members of his congregation. Former members said his move probably spells the end of the charismatic, nondenominational, Pentecostal church, whose membership peaked at 1,400 last summer.

Efforts to reach Hogue were unsuccessful Monday; the Metrochurch telephone rang unanswered, its recorded message disconnected.

Nearly a year after moving to the county from Edmond, Okla., where he had founded a similar Metrochurch and reportedly had been enmeshed in debt and financial worries, Hogue has come under legal attack from California former parishioners.

Former church members June and David Muehlberger of Palm Springs filed suit in Orange County Superior Court on Dec. 16, 1987, against Metrochurch and Hogue, alleging that he repaid just $2,000 of a $126,000 personal loan they gave him to buy pews for the church he was fashioning in a corporate industrial complex at 5 Whatney in Irvine.

Randall Lee Hite, the Muehlbergers’ attorney, said the couple were told that they would be repaid when the landlord reimbursed Hogue for the improvements.

“We believe the landlord has paid $100,000, and it was not used to satisfy this loan,” Hite said.

Irvine police said they are investigating allegations of embezzlement as a result of the Muehlbergers’ complaint to them. “We don’t know if it’s a civil problem or a criminal problem,” Sgt. Scott Cabe said. “It just popped up in the last two or three days.”

June Muehlberger said she had been impressed with Hogue’s TV appearances and attended a church formation meeting early last year that he had advertised on the “Praise the Lord” charismatic TV program. She and her husband and Hogue and his wife “had some lunches together,” she recalled. “He asked if he could borrow $100,000 for pews and a piano.”

She said she borrowed against a certificate of deposit. “I thought it was the safest money I ever loaned,” she said.

‘One Payment in a Year’

“They made one payment in a year,” she said.

“He said the collections were down and the tithing was down. I later found out they were bringing in $15,000 a Sunday.”

Rent on the 20,000-square-foot industrial space was about $5,000 a week, said Harold Ezell of Laguna Hills, a former board member of the Irvine church who is director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s western region.

About 40% of church income went to salaries, Ezell said.

Metrochurch attorney Glen R. Mozingo said, “Our position is that the alleged promissory note signed ostensibly by Mr. Hogue is a forgery, according to our clients.”

In a lawsuit, Hogue’s former attorneys are seeking $18,426 they say Hogue owes for legal services. “We’ve been trying to catch the guy for two years,” said David Livingston, an attorney for the Oklahoma law firm of Mosburg, Sears, Kunzman and Bollinger. “We have a firm trying to collect.”

The money was for legal fees involving a limited partnership in a quarter horse, Livingston said.

Hogue stepped down from his Oklahoma church in July, 1985, to run as a Republican candidate for governor.

But financial entanglements--including more than a dozen lawsuits filed against him in the Oklahoma County District Court--forced him to bow out of the race, according to published reports.

One Oklahoma couple reportedly sued Hogue and alleged that he failed to repay $142,000 on a $160,000 note for a 157-acre horse ranch. In addition, his house was foreclosed for a $228,000 debt Hogue reportedly owed GMAC Mortgage Corp. of Iowa.

In 1987, Hogue moved to Orange County, saying he and his wife, Marilyn, would be hosts for religious programs on Trinity Broadcasting Network. He appeared occasionally on the “Praise the Lord” program over the network’s Channel 40.

Known as a dynamic personality, Hogue, 41, had had his own weekly TV program in Oklahoma, which also aired over Tustin-based Trinity Broadcasting.

Trinity vice president Philip Crouch said Hogue was never an employee of TBN. Hogue advertised his new church over the air without official support from Trinity Broadcasting, network attorney Norman G. Juggert said.

‘The Red Lights Went Off’

Trinity discontinued using Hogue as a host three weeks ago. “The red lights went off when we learned his board has resigned,” Juggert said.

On Monday night, Paul Crouch, president of Trinity Broadcasting Network, and his wife, Jan, asked viewers to pray for Hogue during the live-broadcast “Praise the Lord” show. “We just want to lift him in prayer,” Paul Crouch said.

Jan Crouch then urged viewers to “pray for your pastor as you have never prayed before.” Paul Crouch said Hogue was going through difficulties with the church but did not explain why he had resigned.

Ezell said Monday that Hogue told him his financial problems had resulted from the oil crisis in Oklahoma. “It didn’t really matter to me what was behind him,” Ezell said. “It’s nice to be able to start over.”

Ezell said he resigned from the church board last September, mostly over Hogue’s preaching of a doctrine called “Kingdom Now” that is counter to mainstream fundamentalist beliefs.

‘Hurt, Disillusioned’

Now, he said, “A lot of people are hurt, disillusioned.”

Another board member, Charles Wardman, said he resigned when he was unable to obtain financial accounting information from either Hogue or his assistant, Mike Maggard.

Hogue’s TV appearances helped him gain a large following quickly, said Scott Presse, senior pastor at Rancho Valley Church, another new Christian church in the south County.

“He created a Christian superstructure instantly,” he said. “But it was a house of matches.”

Times staff writers Jess Bravin and Mark Pinsky contributed to this story.