This article appeared in the Baton Rouge Advocate on October 13, 1988. I think it shows a history of abusive behaviour towards ministry employees. The judge threw out Frances accusations against the employee as baseless- not surprising.
Author(s): HOWARD HOFFMAN A 3-year-old lawsuit alleging that the wife of evangelist Jimmy Swaggart falsely accused an employee of theft was settled out of court. According to the suit, Frances Swaggart fired Debra Allen Blankenship from her job in the accounting department of the ministry.
Blankenship alleged in a 1985 suit in U.S. District Court that she was fired because she overheard Mrs. Swaggart tell her accountant that she examined all the jewelry donated at crusades, chose the pieces she liked and repaid the ministry at a reduced price.
Mrs. Swaggart denied that she wrongly accused Blankenship of theft. Mrs. Swaggart also denied that she fired Blankenship because Blankenship may have overheard any conversation with her accountant. “One should be very careful in relying on the assertions of a very disgruntled employee,” Mrs. Swaggart’s attorney, Dale Clary, said about Blankenship’s allegations. Blankenship — who has since remarried and taken the name Debra Green French — had sought $255,000 in damages. Neither Dennis Whalen, Blankenship’s attorney, nor Clary would disclose the terms of the settlement nor comment on any aspect of the case.
U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola dismissed the case last week. Blankenship was arrested in 1981 when Mrs. Swaggart accused her of embezzling ministry money with unauthorized salary advances. The charges against Blankenship — known then as Debra Allen — were dismissed. Blankenship alleged in her suit that Mrs. Swaggart damaged Blankenship’s career opportunities when she fired her and had her arrested falsely. According to documents in federal court, Blankenship contends she was fired because she overheard Mrs. Swaggart talking to her accountant.
“Mrs. Swaggart told the certified public accountant that she would have jewelry which was received brought to her, she would have a jeweler appraise the jewelry at a relatively low price and she would then pay the ministry for it with a check,” the documents say. “Subsequently the jeweler was able to purchase from the ministry all other jewels that Mrs. Swaggart rejected.”
“It was known to many of the employees at the time, that Mrs. Swaggart obtained jewelry, and that no log or record was kept of the jewelry contributed to the ministry, but it was taken directly to Mrs. Swaggart, as differentiated from money, which was meticulously counted and banked.”
In 1981, Mrs. Swaggart’s accounting department manager, Nancy Louise Marquis, testified at a preliminary hearing for the criminal case against Blankenship. At that time, Marquis said the official policy of the ministry was for Mrs. Swaggart to keep any jewelry she wanted if she paid for it.
“When people send in jewelry to be donated and it has to be appraised and such, and then they have to pay the appraised value for it, and the exact procedure is written down in the minutes of the organization,” Marquis testified.
According to state district court records, Mrs. Swaggart complained to police in 1981 that Blankenship had embezzled more than $500 from the ministry’s payroll by arranging unauthorized salary advances. District Court Judge Donovan Parker threw out the charge as baseless. The Louisiana Supreme Court later ordered the case reinstated. District Attorney Ossie Brown made no effort to pursue the charge, however, and District Judge John Covington dismissed the case in 1984.