Judge Freezes Funds of Agency Offering Religious Tours

A judge froze the bank accounts of a Huntington Beach religious tour operator Monday, citing $1.3 million in missing customer payments.

The action by San Diego County Superior Court Judge Robert O’Neill against Queen of Peace Pilgrimages follows a February audit by the state attorney general’s office.

In a lawsuit filed Friday, the state accuses the travel company, also known as Queen of Peace Ministry, of violating state laws in handling money for clients purchasing travel packages to Catholic holy sites in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

In court documents, the state alleges that Queen of Peace owner Peter K. Miller was using the deposits of new clients to cover travel costs of earlier customers, “a situation that is bound to break down, disappointing hundreds of passengers who had paid for transportation and travel services that [Queen of Peace has] no visible means of providing.”

The company has been slow to pay suppliers, but so far no travelers have failed to receive trips, according to Susan Henrichsen, deputy attorney general in San Diego.

Queen of Peace officials declined to comment about the allegations and referred inquiries to the company’s legal counsel.

“All we know is we had some papers delivered,” said Henri “Rick” Shuller, Miller’s Encino-based attorney. “We need to discuss it.”

The judge’s move leaves uncertain prospects for travelers who have made payments for upcoming trips.

Henrichsen said the company could deliver trips already paid for as long as its accounts hold out. But she added that auditors have concluded that the company’s accounts contain less than $16,000, while Queen of Peace owes more than $708,000 to travel suppliers for past services.

“Our goal is not to keep them from doing business,” Henrichsen said. “Our goal is to force them to do business legally.”

In operation for at least eight years, Queen of Peace sells trips to religious sites at prices ranging from $955 per person for a six-day excursion to an apparition site in Betania, Venezuela, to $2,565 per person for a 13-day journey through Turkey and the Holy Land.

State authorities said the company advertised in Catholic newspapers, sometimes operated under the name Queen of Peace Ministry, and sold trips nationwide, sometimes directly to travelers, sometimes through travel agents. Its phone machine message begins with the exclamation “Praise the Lord!”

In 1995, state officials said, an Orange County Superior Court injunction ordered Miller and the company to make clear that the firm had no ties with the Catholic Church. The new state action accuses Miller and the company of violating that order.

In a February audit, state officials reported, they found that Queen of Peace had taken in more than $1.5 million between Aug. 1, 1996, and Feb. 10, 1997, and that its trust account--a measure required by state law to protect consumers--should have had a balance of more than $1.4 million.

Instead, the audit found, the trust account held less than $300, and all the defendant’s accounts together held less than $16,000. The audit also found that Miller personally received more than $200,000 in payments from Queen of Peace between January 1996 and January 1997.

Also contributing to this report was Times staff writer Marla Dickerson in Orange County.