Lonely-hearts scheme tricked 31,000 men

Press, 8 December 1987, Page 10

Lonely-hearts scheme tricked 31,000 men

NZPA-AP Springfield, Illinois A multimillion-dollar con trick lured more than 31,000 men in three countries with promises they could retire to a paradise tended by nude angels, federal authorities say. “These were lonely human beings who saw something too good to be true,” United States Attorney J. William Roberts said in announcing the indictment of a Bettendorf, lowa, couple and an East Moline woman along with the Col Corp., also known as The Church of Love. According to the 20count indictment, men who responded to an initial mailing and paid a

membership fee of SUS2O ($3l) to SUS3O ($47) were told they could retire to a valley paradise where they would have all their wishes and dreams fulfilled by “Mother Maria and the Angels of Love”. Authorities said some mailings included photographs of nude or seminude women. The pictures were of Col employees or models hired by the defendants, and the retreat did not exist, investigators said. The scheme operated at least since 1974, and the defendants received more than SUS4.S million ($7 million) from the men from 1982 to 1985 alone, the indictment said. Donald Lowry, aged 58, and his wife, Esther, 45,

were charged with 17 counts each of mail fraud. Authorities said men in the United States, Canada and Mexico were solicited by mail to support Maria Simones Mireles and The Angels, who supposedly lived at an old farm building in Hillsdale, near Moline by the Mississippi River. One man apparently contributed SUS6O,OOO, ($94,200) authorities said. In addition to money, victims sent the defendants gifts of clothing, sewing machines, jewellery, stereos, food and other items, the indictment alleged. The men, some well educated, ranged in age from their late 30s to their 60s, authorities said.