Man Pleads Not Guilty in Fraud

A New Jersey man accused of conning more than 100 clergy members with a story in which he said he was stranded in Manhattan pleaded not guilty to scheming to defraud and petty larceny, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Edward Lundstrom, 50, of Weehawken, who said he was a longshoreman, is accused of stealing more than $25,000 from Protestant churches in Vermont, Ohio, Rhode Island, Florida and New York, Manhattan Dist. Atty. Robert Morgenthau said.

Using such New York City landmarks as the New York Public Library and Grand Central Station as his bases of operation, Lundstrom allegedly researched and contacted pastors of churches in at least five states over five months, ending March 4.

Using a British accent, he telephoned clerics saying he was Bradford Gordon from England, was new to the area and was planning to join the church but had to make an emergency trip to New York City for a funeral, the prosecutor said.

Lundstrom would allegedly say that he, his wife and two small daughters were on the way back to the town, but had become stranded when their car broke down.

Morgenthau said Lundstrom would say he was in a dangerous area and that Travelers Aid and the Salvation Army could not help and would give the cleric the telephone number of his mechanic.

When the pastor called the number, Lundstrom assumed the role of the mechanic, “using a beer-guzzling Brooklyn accent,” Morgenthau said, never asking for more than $300 from his victims.

Lundstrom would offer to fix the car if the cleric would send the money to a Western Union office in New York City.