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Ray Landers has a God-given gift for making money.
According to his Web site, raylanders.com, he “carries an anointing
to release understanding of the spiritual realm of finance and freedom from
the world system.” Another Web site, for the Sovereign Seed, offers free
seminars led by Landers with a promise to teach Christians how to “be
free from the bondage of debt. . . .”
These talents should come in handy. Earlier this
month, a Macoupin County grand jury indicted Landers and his Auburn-based
nonprofit religious organization, Equipping the Saints Ministry
International Inc., on eight counts of environmental crimes apiece. The
charges, all Class 4 felonies, carry a maximum penalty of three years in
prison, 30 months’ probation, and a $25,000 fine for each day the
violation continues. The charges stem
from Landers’ renovation of an erstwhile nursing home in Virden.
Almost four years ago, Landers used a skid loader to rip a hole in the side
of the building through which he hauled out wallboard, insulation, and old
heaters, releasing potentially-injurious asbestos particles [see Dusty
Rhodes, “Demolition man,” Dec. 1, 2005].
This crime may
not seem serious, but James Walsh, an attorney in the environmental crimes
section of the Illinois Attorney General’s office, says it is.
“It’s very dangerous —
you’ve exposed the community to asbestos,” Walsh says.
“You’re setting these people up to get mesothelioma or
asbestosis. With mesothelioma, the lungs get encapsulated and a person
can’t breathe. It’s a real horrible death, actually.”
Despite his purported financial anointment,
Landers has been unwilling or unable to pay for the abatement of the
asbestos mess in Virden. In response to a civil lawsuit filed against him
by Attorney General Lisa Madigan in 2004, Landers pledged to hire licensed
environmental engineers to plan and carry out a cleanup of the contaminated
property. However, he has repeatedly claimed that the property owner
— Equipping the Saints — lacks the funds to pay the engineers
for the cleanup.
Thomas Davis, chief of Madigan’s
environmental crimes bureau, calls the situation “extremely
frustrating.”
“There’ve been sporadic efforts by
Landers and his non-profit corporation to obtain qualified firms to come in
and abate the asbestos, but I assume the decision not to allocate the money
has led to all the delays,” he says. “Since we filed this case, he’s been to
Australia, he’s been to Africa, so he apparently has funding for
these trips.”
Landers’ attorney, Ed Rees, says funding for a
cleanup depends on donations.
“They’re a religious corporation.
They’ll just be having to get people to donate money,” he says.
Asked if Landers could answer questions about how this plan might work,
Rees said he would advise him not to. Landers will plead not guilty. Meanwhile, Landers appears to be embroiled in
another expensive and debt-riddled venture — a new real estate
development on Clover Lane in Auburn, where he planned to build seven
duplex homes. Rees says Landers’ “family members” control
this project, with no participation from Ray Landers. However, contractor
Shane Stewart claims he was hired by Landers to do foundation and concrete
work, as well as framing. Stewart says he stopped working on the project
after Landers failed to pay him $175,000 for work already completed. Rees
says Stewart’s work was unsatisfactory. Stewart has resorted to
picketing the site and even showing up at Landers’ church for a
worship service, where, he says, his presence practically doubled the ranks
of the congregation. Stewart says he was then forced to leave by Auburn
police. “I don’t think the
man’s all there,” Stewart says. “I think he’s just
conned and tricked his way around stuff for so long that he feels like
he’s doing no wrong.”
Contact Dusty Rhodes at drhodes@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Jul 19-25, 2007.
