Stephen Dennis, former Grandview mayor, sentenced to federal prison in wire-fraud case

Grandview’s former mayor will spend a year and a day in federal prison for misrepresenting his nonprofit company as a tax-exempt charity, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Stephen Dennis, 51, pleaded guilty in February to wire fraud, admitting he defrauded $35,000 from the International House of Prayer.

The prayer ministry had intended the money to be used to provide relief for the poor and elderly in Grandview, although Dennis admitted he transferred most of it to his personal bank account.

Senior U.S. District Judge Howard Sachs ordered Dennis to pay a $5,000 fine. The judge opted for a fine because neither the Southland prayer ministry nor a second organization that Dennis allegedly defrauded wanted restitution.

Dennis took two $10,000 payments from RED Legacy LLC that were supposed to have been used as scholarships for his daughter, prosecutors said. However, Dennis did not use the money for scholarships, they said.

Dennis resigned in the middle of his second term in early January, surprising other city officials. Attention soon focused on Matters of the Heart, which Dennis founded in December 2011 under Missouri’s laws governing nonprofit organizations.

Dennis accepted a $10,000 check from the International House of Prayer in September 2012, depositing the money into Matters of the Heart’s bank account.

Three months later, he accepted a $25,000 check. Dennis acknowledged almost all of the money went to pay his family’s bills.

Though Dennis received legal advice about obtaining formal tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service, he never followed up, court records said.

This story was originally published August 4, 2014 at 3:54 PM with the headline "Stephen Dennis, former Grandview mayor, sentenced to federal prison in wire-fraud case."