Federal judge denies push to change venue in criminal case involving a former Vallejo High School principal

by John Glidden | glid24@protonmail.com | June 17, 2024

VALLEJO – A federal judge last week denied a motion to change the venue in an alleged defrauding case involving a former Vallejo High School principal.

In his six-page decision issued on June 12, U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey S. White argued it was proper for the criminal case involving Staccato Powell, and Sheila Quintana to continue in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The court is headquartered in San Francisco with additional courthouses in Oakland and San Jose.

Powell, a former bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion church, and Quintana, who served as principal of Vallejo High School from 2016 to 2019, are accused of defrauding several churches over a five year period, including a church in Vallejo.

The government alleges that the pair allegedly took control of church properties and then using the real estate to obtain high interest loans which Powell and Quintana kept for themselves, according to the January 2022 indictment.

Powell and Quintana have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and Powell was charged with one count of mail fraud. They each face 20 years in federal prison, a fine up to $250,000 and three years of supervised release.

Powell, through his public defender, filed the motion in April, claiming the government improperly tied the case to the Oakland courthouse in the Northern California District Court.

“Of the 51 (non-forfeiture) paragraphs in the indictment, only nine refer to conduct that occurred within the Northern District of California,” Powell’a motion states. “Of those, only three refer to conduct within the venue of the Oakland courthouse, where the government chose to bring this case.”

The judge stated in his decision that “to resolve a motion to dismiss, a court generally looks to the allegations in the indictment, which it must accept as true.” He noted that since the alleged wire fraud took place in the Northern District, the venue is proper.

The government alleges the scheme began after the pair formed a California corporation known as AME Zion Western Episcopal District Incorporated (“WED Inc.”) in 2016 following Powell’s selection as bishop to the Western Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.

The government alleges that After forming WED Inc. Powell and Quintana fraudulently acquired the church titles “through a campaign of pressure and misinformation targeting pastors who served at the pleasure of Powell.

“In some cases, Powell and Quintana, and others changed deeds for church properties under false pretenses, using forged signatures or other misrepresentations to create
or obtain resolutions purporting to confirm congregational approval of their scheme,” the government added. “In other cases, pastors believed they were signing over their churches’ grant deeds to the Denomination because Powell falsely represented that their deeds were not compliant with the Book of Discipline.”

To complicate matters, WED is currently in bankruptcy proceedings.

Powell in his motion argued that WED’s bankruptcy should be taken into account with the requested venue change in the criminal case. He said the criminal case should move to the Eastern District of California, headquartered in Sacramento, next to the bankruptcy case.

The pair is accused of defrauding AME Zion church congregations in Palo Alto, San Jose, Oakland, Los Angeles, and Vallejo out of a combined $14 million. The government alleges that the pair defrauded the Kyles Temple AME Zion Church of Vallejo out of $500,000 in 2017.