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HAMMOND — The First Baptist Church of Hammond is being sued by two couples for money they said was lost in an investment scheme pushed by a former deacon who allegedly was hired by the church to provide “one-on-one financial counseling.”

The former deacon, Thomas Kimmel, was sentenced in 2014 to 22 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $16.5 million in restitution after being convicted in federal court in Raleigh, N.C., of defrauding hundreds of investors around the country.

According to the lawsuit, Jack Schapp, former pastor of the Hammond church, received a 1 percent commission on each Hammond church parishioner’s investment, while Kimmel received a 10 percent commission. Schapp and Kimmel did not disclose these commissions to parishioners, according to the lawsuit.

Schaap is currently serving 12 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2012 to having sexual relations with a teenage church member.

The lawsuit against First Baptist Church of Hammond, Inc., was filed this week by Joseph Elwell, Crystal Elwell, Robert Baldwin, and Deborah Baldwin, individually and as custodian for her two minor children. The Elwells are former Schererville residents now living in Yuma, Arizona, while Deborah Baldwin is a former Crown Point resident now living with her husband, Robert, in Kiel, Wisconsin.