Former Lay Leader Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy To Commit Wire Fraud And Mail Fraud For Role In Scheme To Defraud AME Zion Church Congregations In California

OAKLAND – Sheila Quintana pleaded guilty in federal court today to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud in connection with her role in a scheme to defraud congregations of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AME Zion Church) across California as well as private lenders.

Quintana, 71, of Vallejo, was indicted along with co-defendant Staccato Powell, 65, of Wake Forest, N.C., by a federal grand jury in January 2022 on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349 and two counts of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343. Powell was additionally charged with one count of mail fraud.

On April 18, 2025, an information was filed charging Quintana with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, and re-alleging the three counts against her in the indictment. Quintana waived indictment on the charges in the information. She pleaded guilty this afternoon to the count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 and agreed to cooperate with the government.

According to court documents, Powell and Quintana were officers of the Western Episcopal District, Inc. (WED, Inc.), an entity that Powell formed in 2016 after Powell’s selection as bishop to AME Zion Church’s Western Episcopal District, a geographic division of the church covering several states in the western United States, including California. AME Zion Church is an historically African-American denomination of approximately 1.4 million adherents worldwide.

Powell was the chief executive officer (CEO) of WED, Inc., and Quintana became the chief financial officer (CFO) in March 2017. In pleading guilty, Quintana admitted to using false statements and material omissions to obtain from local pastors grant deeds to church properties, and then using fake resolutions to memorialize the agreement of the local congregations to new mortgages on the local church properties when no such authorization had been given.

Acting United States Attorney Patrick D. Robbins and FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani made the announcement.

Quintana admitted to fraudulently obtaining mortgages on the following church properties:

• Kyles Temple in Vallejo: Quintana was part of a group that assisted with the purchase of a $1.5 million episcopal residence in Granite Bay, with approximately $1 million covered by a bank loan. To obtain the additional $500,000 in funding, Quintana learned that the anticipated loans required the use of two church properties as collateral. The group identified two church properties that would be used as collateral to secure financing to purchase the episcopal residence, including Kyles Temple in Vallejo. At the time, Quintana was the chair of the Board of Trustees of Kyles Temple as well as the CFO of WED, Inc. Quintana drafted a fake resolution reflecting authorization by Kyles Temple for the loan and giving herself authority to execute loan documents in her role as Chair of the Board of Trustees. She admitted that there was no meeting at Kyles Temple to approve (or even discuss) this resolution.
• First AME Zion Church in San Jose: In October 2017, Quintana assisted with documents and transactions to use the First AME Zion Church in San Jose as collateral for a new loan to buy a parsonage, a residence for the congregation’s new pastor. Quintana prepared a fake resolution on the San Jose congregation’s letterhead stating that the new pastor was authorized to sign all documents pertaining to the real estate transactions, following a “unanimous vote by the membership.” During the processing of the loan paperwork, Quintana learned that a title search for the San Jose church revealed a title interest in the property held by the AME Zion Church of Los Angeles. She then prepared another fake resolution stating that the AME Zion Church in Los Angeles held a membership meeting on or about Oct. 12, 2017, and voted to deed the church in San Jose to WED, Inc. Using the resolutions, WED, Inc. obtained a loan, the proceeds of which were used to purchase the parsonage. Quintana learned in late November 2017 that the San Jose congregation disputed the transaction, including the assertion that the church’s membership voted unanimously to approve the resolution. In or about August 2019, Quintana assisted with an additional transaction to refinance the 2017 loan using the First AME Zion Church of San Jose as collateral.
• Greater Cooper AME Zion Church in Oakland: As CFO of WED, Inc., Quintana executed loan documents in May 2019 to borrow $525,000 using the Greater Cooper AME Zion Church in Oakland as collateral. Quintana signed the grant deeds transferring the property of Greater Cooper AME Zion Church in Oakland to WED, Inc. and other closing documents on May 16, 2019, and signed the deed of trust for the transaction as CFO of WED, Inc. on May 24, 2019. Following that, Quintana emailed Powell to inform him that the “expected cash amount from the Cooper loan is $506,000 . . . .” Quintana later learned that the property of Greater Cooper had been encumbered with approximately $1.5 million in debt and that the congregation objected to the encumbrance as unauthorized.
• University AME Zion Church of Palo Alto: Quintana understood in 2017 that Powell had informed the Reverend of University AME Zion Church of Palo Alto that Powell planned to use the University church as collateral for a loan. Quintana prepared the paperwork needed for the transfer of the University AME Zion Church to WED, Inc. In March 2018, Quintana received paperwork for a $2 million loan using University AME Zion Church as collateral, and emailed the loan papers to Powell for him to sign. WED, Inc. encumbered the University AME Church with loans totaling $3.6 million, which Quintana admitted was debt that the congregation’s membership neither knew about nor authorized.
• First AME Zion Church in Los Angeles: Beginning in December 2017, Quintana assisted with documents and transactions to use the First AME Zion Church in Los Angeles as collateral for a new loan. Quintana understood from Powell that the pastor of the Los Angeles church had told Powell that the membership had approved the transfer of title from the Los Angeles church to WED, Inc. Quintana prepared a resolution that purported to document a meeting at which the membership approved the transfer and authorized the Reverend of the Los Angeles church to sign documents pertaining to the transfer, as well as an updated resolution that purported to document a meeting at which the membership approved the transfer of title to WED, Inc., and authorized Powell to sign all documents pertaining to the transaction. She sent both fake resolutions to the lender. Quintana signed a resolution of the Board of WED, Inc. on Dec. 15, 2017, approving the obtaining of a loan using the Los Angeles church property as collateral, and executed loan documents on Dec. 20, 2017. Quintana admitted that she knew that the resolution included false information that was material to obtaining the loan using the church as collateral, and intended that the use of the false and material information would result in the loan’s approval and funding.

Quintana further admitted that between September 2018 and June 2019, in recognition of the amount of time she had spent assisting Powell with the business of the Western Episcopal District, she prepared and signed three checks drawn on WED, Inc.’s bank account and made payable to her spouse totaling $67,500. The checks were payable to Quintana for her benefit. Quintana wrote and signed these checks making payment to her spouse because she did not want anyone other than Powell to know of the payments.

According to the information filed on April 18, 2025, WED, Inc. filed a bankruptcy petition in July 2020 in which it claimed its assets included 11 churches, a parsonage, and Powell’s official residence. The petition stated that WED, Inc.’s real property was worth $26,338,031 and had debts totaling $12,475,453.

Quintana is next scheduled to appear in court on July 15, 2025, for a status hearing. She faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371. Any sentence will be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan U. Lee is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Kathy Tat and Helen Yee. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI.