Calvin Simmons - The real Calvin Simmons

ATLANTA, GA (KP) — Many people have been damaged by the con-artist and fraudulent activities of Calvin Simmons. Some of the ex-members of his former religious organization in Lawrenceville, GA (Calvin Simmons Evangelistic Association), doing business as "The Fortress Church," have seen to it that Calvin Simmons be exposed.

The obviously fraudulent bankruptcy of Dale Allison, Calvin Simmons' former lawyer, in conjunction with the bankruptcy of Sam Brockway (he filed as Sam Brockman so as to obfiscate the courts) started the snowball rolling down the mountain.

The court records and what I could find in the Secretary of State's office showed that Calvin Simmons set up nearly 100 corporations in Gwinnett County using fake names, fake home addresses, and copy-n-paste the 119 purposes of each corporation with most everything under the sun such as producing airplane parts to that of running a religious private school. All of this was done under the legal advisory and filings of his attorney at that time, Dale Allison.

It was through the discovery of the bankruptcies during my divorce from Pamela Andriote Day, also a former true and blue follower of Calvin Simmons, that both Allison's and Brockway's bankruptcies were allegedly seen as fraudulent. Eventually this controversy made its way to former members ripped off through the dealings of this triad and to a banruptcy lawyer, Roger Moister.

A first year Bible student would know that a person's name change by God is for a greater purpose. This Calvin Simmons, who claims to be a "Prophet of God," calls into question the motive in changing his name to several aliases. This sparked a controversy, law suits, and investigations into his seemingly dishonest business dealings.

Calvin Simmons' name used to be emphasized in his large and somewhat gaudy display in front of his multi-purpose church facility (formerly a funeral home) he founded. However, Calvin Simmons under the advisory of his one-time lawyer, Dale Allison, decided to use fictitious names as a means to conceal his real identity in what appears to be his con-artist business dealings.

When asked why so many names, Calvin Simmons responded, "Well huh, the law provides the right for anyone to use a fictitious name or alias name provided if they don’t abandon their real name in business. And huh, you take… there’s huh Congressmen, Senators, movie stars (and) business people use them all the time."

Simmons went on to say that he uses other names because he thought it prudent to separate his business practices from his work as a "prophet of God." However, there are others who have debated the real reason, believing that Simmons had done so for fraudulent purposes.

Roger Moister, was appointed to oversee Allison's bankruptcy and adamantly claims, "... the reason he's (Simmons) doing this is because he's got $70,000 of unpaid judgments on the Gwinnett county records. Allison was Simmon's friend, former lawyer, and held the office of dean of the Bible College (unaccredited and not recognized as legitimate among highly esteemed colleges and universities).

The discovery of questionable business names and links to both Brockway's bogus bankruptcy and Simmons finally led to public disclosure of the allegations about the false names. According to court records one of those fake names was used to hold the mortgage on Allison's personal home and to foreclose on it. After the foreclosure, Allison continued to live there.

Because of the manner in which the foreclosure was handled, this aroused the attention of Wanda Moon Cole, a one-time member of the so-called "Fortress Center Church." She stated that she was out of thousands of dollars. She also held mortagages against Allison's house.

Calvin Simmons went on to say that he didn't know anything about the other mortgages and he had seen to it that Wanda Moon Cole was eventually repaid $39,000 of the money she was owed, even though the debt was not his. In actuality, she was supposed to receive the full amount of $90,000 and eventually settled out of court to the total of $39,000. One third of that went toward her attorney, leaving her with only $26,000. In other words, she lost about $64,000 over this fiasco.

Simmons contended that he was doing business in fictitious names long before the judgments mentioned by Moister. He stated, "No one has made any effort to collect those either." The reason possibly is because no one knew Calvin Simmons represented himself under these fictitious names. That's the reason why it took several years to go after Calvin Simmons and the con-artist triad.

Moister had been involved in nearly 2,000 bankruptcy cases and emphasized that this was the most bizarre case he's ever handled. He went on to opinionate, "I think it's a fraudulent situation."

Sam Brockway was appointed pastor of the so-called "Fortress Center Church" after several factors were disclosed in my divorce and custody hearings. They felt that Calvin Simmons should remain in the background as a form of protecting the so-called "anointed one." Sam Brockway went on to defend Simmons, "He's a man of integrity. The Lord has used him mightily in a lot of people's lives.

Brockway continued to defend Simmons in that the court case had nothing to do with the church or their schools. The school name and address (on the corner of intersecting roads) were changed when it was discovered through affidavits and witnesses in the Juvenile Court hearings in Gwinnett county that they had physically abused my children.

Moister's efforts to reopen the bankruptcy and to prove it to be fraudulent was met with immediate resistance by the bankruptcy judge. The matter was dismissed on the gounds of Statute of Limitations. In other words, it took several years to figure out the false names and then realize the matter ought to be heard before a court of law. Moister was against time and lost.

However, the bankruptcy judge suggested that Federal or State prosecutors might be better forums for the allegations. Simmons reiterated that it was Allison, operating as his lawyer/advisor, who suggested he use the fictitious names in the first place. The judge said, "Look, this isn't the place to hear it. Take it to a prosecutor."

The prosecutor's office in Gwinnett county was aware of the situation but no one had filed a formal complaint. Eventually, Simmons bailed out of Lawrenceville, having to sell off some properties such as his house and the church building so as to pay off the judgments and settle out of court with Wanda Moon Cole, et al.

As for Dale Allison... he's been disbarred in Georgia and a reciprocating disbarment was initiated and completed in Illinois. He can no longer practice law in any state. He now employs his oldest son, Stephen T. Allison, to do his seemingly shady business transactions and all the legal work while he works in the background.

I warned a newly ordained pastor in Blairsville, where Allison now resides, not to do any business with a person such as Allison and company.

And Sam Brockway keeps getting into finanial binds with his plastics companies, having filed bankruptcy again. And no one gets hurt... yeah, right!