N.Y. Officials Seek Order for Testimony by Bakker-Hahn Figure

An Anaheim church consultant who negotiated Jessica Hahn’s $265,000 financial settlement with television evangelist Jim Bakker has been ordered to appear in Orange County Superior Court on Tuesday for refusing to testify before a New York grand jury.

Paul Roper, a 44-year-old businessman, is being sought by New York officials in what is believed to be a grand jury investigation into allegations of tax fraud by the Rev. Gene Profeta, Hahn’s Long Island minister.

Roper has received notice to appear in court Tuesday for a hearing in which prosecutors will seek a subpoena that would force him to testify before the New York grand jury. Roper said Thursday that he does not know why he is considered a material witness.

“The only two people I know in New York are Jessica and her minister (Profeta),” Roper said. “I don’t know what else it could be about.”

While New York authorities have refused to disclose any details of their inquiry, New York newspapers have printed numerous articles about a grand jury investigation into the allegations concerning Profeta.

Roper added that Hahn has already testified before the same grand jury which is seeking his testimony. The grand jury is in Albany County, N.Y., but law enforcement officials running the investigation are based in New York City.

Hahn was a clerk for Profeta’s Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Massapequa, N.Y., in 1980 when she was invited by leaders of the PTL Club to join the Jim Bakker entourage in Clearwater, Fla., where Bakker was preaching.

Hahn claims that she was coerced into having sex with Bakker at a motel there, and that she has suffered emotional distress from it since then.

With Roper’s help, Hahn received a $265,000 financial settlement from Bakker and the PTL. Public disclosure of the incident and the Hahn settlement led to the resignations from the PTL of Bakker and his wife, Tammy.

Bakker claims that Hahn “blackmailed” him into paying her hush money. Roper denies that it was blackmail, but part of the settlement agreement was that Hahn would not pursue a civil lawsuit against Bakker over the incident.

At the time, Hahn was reportedly close to Profeta and his ministry. Roper said he he has very little knowledge about Profeta’s activities, and cannot understand why he is considered a material witness.

Roper said he wants to cooperate with the state attorney general’s office in New York, which first called him about testifying three weeks ago. But Roper said New York authorities told him that he must come immediately. Roper said that because he is in the last few weeks of his final year of law school at Western State University in Fullerton, he did not want to fly to New York and miss any more school time.

“I told them I’d come when school was over; they said no, I had to be there that Thursday,” Roper explained. “They told me if I didn’t come that week, they would get an interstate subpoena and force me to come. I told ‘em, ‘Go ahead.’ ”

Roper said he figures that by the time New York officials go through the legal procedures to force his appearance before the grand jury in Albany, he should be finished with his classes, which end in early May.

Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans, who is seeking the interstate subpoena, could not discuss any details about Roper’s role in the New York inquiry. Evans also would not comment on speculation that the New York inquiry centered on Profeta.

“The court there has determined that Mr. Roper is a material witness to that investigation; it will be Mr. Roper’s job to explain in our court here if there is any reason he should not be ordered to appear,” Evans said.

Roper is scheduled to appear Tuesday morning before Superior Court Judge Kathleen O’Leary. Roper said he would plead “hardship” to the judge.

“They want four days of my time to answer probably 10 questions,” Roper said. “Let them send the questions to the judge out here--I’ll answer them.”

Roper said he has already testified about the Jessica Hahn incident involving the Bakkers before a grand jury in Charlotte, N.C., interrupting his class schedule for a week. He also had to interrupt classes for another grand jury appearance unrelated to the PTL Club and the Bakkers, he said.

“I’ve been running all over the country for the government; they can surely wait a few weeks for me,” he said.

Hahn, who is now associated with Playboy Enterprises, was unavailable for comment Thursday, according to a spokeswoman for Playboy.

Roper, the 44-year-old son of missionaries, who grew up on a Crow Indian reservation in Montana, was first involved in church controversy five years ago when he took control of finances at the Melodyland School of Theology in Anaheim. He had alleged that the flamboyant founder of the Melodyland church, the Rev. Ralph Wilkerson, had misspent church funds for personal purposes to help push that church to the brink of bankruptcy.

Then in 1987, Roper did all the negotiating for Hahn with the PTL leadership. Hahn has told reporters that she is pleased with the settlement, and at one time referred all inquiries to Roper.

Roper said he has not talked to Hahn since her testimony before the New York grand jury, and does not know what she was asked.

Roper said that New York authorities who asked him to appear before the grand jury did not give him any clue what they wanted to ask him.

“They never do at these grand juries until you get there,” he said. “They don’t even tell you then. They just set you down and start firing questions at you.”