WALTHOURVILLE — The Federal Bureau of Investigation is asking Liberty County residents to help in the investigation of Walthourville-based The House of Prayer Christian Church as part of an ongoing fraud investigation revealed in an indictment last week.
The church’s head, known only by the alias Rony Denis, is scheduled for a detention hearing Wednesday after federal prosecutors unveiled a 26-count indictment naming eight church leaders and associates of the church complex on Airline Drive in Walthourville.
Another man, Anthony Oloans, also remains in custody; no detention hearing appeared in the court calendar as of publication.
Denis, Oloans, and five other associates out on no-cash $50,000 bond, are facing allegations that they defrauded soldiers at Fort Stewart and other Army bases around the United States through real estate and education scams, according to the court document.
Their alleged scheme involved siphoning off federal dollars that troops and veterans earned as part of their military service. To do this, according to the indictment, Denis set up home purchases and a non-accredited Bible college, then encouraged victims to pay with GI Bill and VA housing benefits. The alleged scam also rented the properties back to church members. And because HOPCC is registered as a church, all that profit was tax-free.
Others named in the indictment include six Hinesville residents — Oloans, 54; Joseph Fryar, 51; Dennis Nostrant, 55; Gerard Robertson, 57; David Reip, 54; and Marcus Labat, 42 — and Omar Garcia, 40, of Palm Bay, Fla. All are charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Olans, Fryar, Nostrant, and Reip are charged with bank fraud. Robertson, Labat, and Garcia are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Labat and Garcia face wire fraud charges.
Fryar, Nostrant, Robertson, Reip, and Labat were granted $50,000 no-cash bond Thursday, the Augusta Press reported, with Denis and Oloans held pending a bond hearing.
An eighth church leader, Bernadel Semexant, 35, of Hinesville was indicted by a federal grand jury Sept. 10 with enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity, sexual abuse of a minor, transfer of obscene material to a minor, receipt of child pornography, and possession of child pornography. Hinesville Police arrested Semexant in September 2024 on charges of aggravated child molestation, child molestation, and statutory rape, which allegedly involved “a member/student” of HOPCC.
FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Paul Brown urges “anyone with information about Pastor Semexant or others in positions of trust within HOPCC to come forward — your voice matters, and you may help protect other potential victims.”
Federal prosecutors are asking the court “to declare this case as unusual and complex under 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7)(B) and, consequently, to exclude all time from the date the Motion was filed (September 11, 2025) until further order of the Court from computation under the Speedy Trial Act.” They cite over 1275 bank accounts, “dozens and dozens” of witnesses, “several search warrants in five separate locations in four different states,” over 100 seized electronic devices, more than 80 boxes of seized documents, and materials from over 200 grand jury subpoenas.
“The bank fraud scheme alone spans nearly two decades and involves approximately 150-200 different properties,” prosecutors noted in a proposed order.
According to the indictment filed Sept. 10 in the U.S. Southern District of Georgia, Denis is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and aiding and assisting in filing a false tax return.
The indictment alleges the man known as Denis stole that identity in 1983, married a U.S. citizen in 1988, used the false identity to gain U.S. citizenship in 2002, and set up the church and a Bible seminary. Denis then allegedly used the seminary to extract GI Bill education funds from unwitting servicemembers and veterans and paid off church leaders’ credit cards with that money. Denis has lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Hinesville; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Martinez, where he was arrested at a $1.5 million mansion on Honors Way.
The indictment also alleges church leaders wrote reimbursements and “love offerings” to themselves and used straw buyers to purchase rental property.
As of publication, Liberty County tax records show at least 6 Liberty County properties held in the church’s name — 616 Georgia Ave. and 1818 Blair Court in Hinesville; the church complex at 2658 Airport Road in Walthourville; and 11.97 wooded acres at 184 Curtis Road and 2276 Hwy. 196 West and an adjoining 23.91 wooded acres at 2313 Hwy. 196 West in unincorporated Liberty County. Denis held one property at 401 Club Drive in Hinesville listed in his name.
The indictment alleges the defendants “exercised extreme control and manipulation over” church members and Bible school attendees, including access to members’ drivers’ licenses and Social Security numbers, “arranged marriages and orchestrated divorces,” and forcing members “live in rental properties, which were purchased using strawbuyers which generated rental income that flowed to the Defendants.”
Former members and local residents with whom The Current GA has spoken have described the Pentecostal church as a “cult.” The government alleges that the men named in the indictment used intimidation to force church members into signing over real estate and entering forced marriages. The church’s website accuses the Biden administration of persecuting it when federal agents raided the complex in 2022, posting security video of uniformed FBI personnel executing a search warrant inside the building. Large signs outside the Walthourville complex proclaim in oversized letters, “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.”
Former Coastal Courier reporter Patty Leon first reported on accusations of church scams and its leaders intimidating followers.
House of Prayer: Den of Thieves, a book by two former HOPCC members, Arlen F. Bradeen and Loistene A. Bradeen, claims Rony strategically recruited from military bases in order to funnel customers into his unaccredited Bible college at inflated prices: “Without a definitive graduation date, he could completely deplete each soldier’s education funds, leaving them with no accredited degree and nothing to show for their time investment in education….Denis understood they were conditioned to follow orders, making them easier to control.”
Agencies investigating the case include the FBI, Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General, Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Housing Finance Authority, the Department of the Army, CID, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant United States Attorneys Patricia G. Rhodes and George J.C. Jacobs, III are prosecuting.
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Type of Story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
