Church charged with forcing the homeless to work for 28¢ an hour

Not only should this church have their license revoked since they were running an unregistered business in their basement, but their tax exempt status should also come under scrutiny. The fact that this church took advantage of desperate people to run a business is bad enough, but paying them 28 cents an hour and then browbeating them into working for pennies by threatening them with jail is reprehensible. Beyond that, they kept the pittance they paid to these unfortunate people and "donated" their pay to the church. So much for faith based iniatives. This is an example of your tax dollars at work. This church is supposed to be a beacon and a refuge to those who don't have money for food, let alone a place to live, and instead they use people as forced labor while the church lines its pockets with yours and my tax dollars since they don't have to pay taxes.

The complete story from the Daily Herald:

Daily Herald - Church rehabilitation program investigated: "SALT LAKE CITY -- A rehabilitation program at a church is facing possible revocation of its license following allegations that homeless men were forced to work as telemarketers for 28 cents an hour under threats of being sent back to jail.

Robert Ferris and Steve Sandlin, pastors at Central Christ Church, were notified by the state Department of Human Services on Thursday that the House of Refuge has 10 days to respond to charges before its license is revoked and the program is shut down.

Sandlin said he was preparing a press release with his response to the charges but had no comment Thursday.

The action follows investigations by KSL-TV and the department.

The department investigators concluded that the program's clients were forced to work as telemarketers in a basement business of the church.

The referred clients were paid roughly 28 cents an hour, but even those wages were withheld and instead donated to the church, a report by the department said.

The men were sent to the House of Refuge by judges or state agencies for rehabilitation from substance abuse.

Instead, the report said, the men were threatened with jail if they did not work for the telemarketing business, Transmetron.

Since the KSL-TV investigation began two months ago, state agencies have removed the House of Refuge from referral lists and have taken most of the men out of the program.

'They've already found other placements or have gone back home or have been pulled out by their probation officers,' said Ken Stettler, director of licensing at the Department of Human Services. 'I don't think they've got too many left, but they wouldn't let us in today.'

Francine Giani, executive director of the state Department of Commerce, said the Division of Consumer Protection also investigated the House of Refuge and found that the telemarketing company was not registered as a business in the state.

She said that Sandlin was told two weeks ago to shut down the company or register it. The company was not registered by Thursday, but Sandlin had indicated he would not run the company until it was licensed.

'Our investigators did go down and visit with the owner, and he did admit that he was doing telemarketing but claimed to not be aware of the statute,' she said.

In addition to the labor claims, the department's report also cites the church group for hygiene, saying one food handler had hepatitis C."