GRANDVILLE, MI - Resurrection Life Church plans to set up an account to help victims of Ponzi schemer David McQueen who donated $300,000 to the church years ago.

The church said parishioners will be able to donate to the fund.

The federal government asked the church for money McQueen donated from 2005 to 2009 while he operated a $46 million Ponzi scheme.

The money was spent years ago, providing families with food and help with utilities, donated to various agencies in the area and furthering "our Church's mission to help spread the gospel of Jesus Christ locally, nationally and around the world," the Rev. Bernard Blauwkamp said.



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Most of the money McQueen stole is long gone, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Borgula documented McQueen's tithes and gifts to the church and sought its return. McQueen, who is serving 30 years in federal prison, was ordered to pay $32 million in restitution.



In a Facebook post, the Rev. Duane Vander Klok said that using current church donations to pay investors "would create an ethical and potential legal dilemma because, not only do we not have an equivalent sum available but, what we do have was donated recently and not for that purpose. Redirecting donated funds to a purpose other than what they were donated for is a very serious legal matter. We do not desire to be unethical, or commit a crime today, in reaction to the crime committed by someone else many years ago."

He said church officials have been looking at ways to help.

David McQueen, Trent Francke

The church is in the process of setting up an account to help investors who lost funds.

"Our church community can donate to the account and all the monies received into that fund will be put towards the restoration of the investors' loss. An independent attorney will oversee the escrow fund and will coordinate with the U.S. Attorney for eventual distribution of all funds received to the victims."

He said the church will provide further details on its website.

Church officials were upset by the federal government's tactics in telling victims of McQueen that the church had refused to pay back the $300,000. The government included a letter from the church explaining why it would not be able to repay the money.



The church was singled out and made to look bad, an official said.

"If Resurrection Life Church had been aware of the nature of the funds at the time they were received, or even before the funds were dispersed to charitable causes, we would have gladly returned them to the investors," Vander Klok wrote.

"Sadly, we never had that opportunity because no one had any knowledge of the illegal circumstances surrounding the gifts until many years later."

McQueen, a Byron Center resident, liked to say he was "blessed to be a blessing" based on his business success that actually existed only on paper. He was using other people's money to pay his exorbitant salary and send returns to investors.

The U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI and IRS are working to find assets that can be used to pay restitution. The government has already seized cash, boats, vehicles and a Florida condominium, which represent a "small fraction of the total loss," the government said in a letter to the victims.

The federal agencies have asked third parties to voluntarily contribute to pay restitution.

"The U.S. Attorney's Office must try to return assets stolen from innocent investors as restitution," U.S. Attorney Patrick Miles Jr. said in a statement to MLive and The Grand Rapids Press.

"We requested that various third parties voluntarily reimburse or return funds from David McQueen. We will continue our objective to keep victims apprised of our efforts."

McQueen, 44, is in a medium-security facility in Oxford, Wisc.

He left over 800 victims, including those who mortgaged houses and gave up retirement savings. McQueen had legitimate insurance agents selling his bogus investment plan.

Trent Francke, who, like McQueen, was also a Byron Center resident, was second in command of the Ponzi scheme. He testified against McQueen and is serving seven years in prison.

John Agar covers crime for MLive/Grand Rapids Press E-mail John Agar: jagar@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ReporterJAgar