Number	23479
Subject	Housing
Source	News (Saginaw, Mich.)
State	MI
Year	2007
Publication Date	2/11/07; 2/13/07; 3/4/07; 3/22/07; 3/29/07; 4/3/07; 5/18/07
Summary	A gentleman identifying himself as "His Grace Bishop Frumentius" offered a $56 million investment to build a housing project on the former Saginaw Fairgrounds. That 57-acre parcel of land was owned by the local Housing Commission, which was being forced to sell it due to a ruling that it had purchased the land without authority. But the bishop was revealed as Daniel Earl Phelps, "a parolee who served 10 years in prison on financial improprieties." Phelps' stated education history as well as the church he said he represented were shown to be nonexistent, with his main history shown to be tales of similar cases in other towns.
Category	Contest Entry
Pages	19
Keywords	fraud; housing development; religious impersonation; fraudulent bishop
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