Dispatches from the Creation Wars

Well sure. The first person you'd go to if you needed counseling is a disgraced former minister who was caught snorting meth off the buttocks of a gay prostitute while preaching family values, only to be "cured" of his "sin" after only three weeks. Colorado Confidential has the full text of the letter. Here's how he says you can help:

If people want to support us directly, they can mail checks to Ted and Gayle Haggard, 9699 N. Hayden, Suite 108, PMB 180, Scottsdale, AZ 95259. This is a private mail box address that we have been using since we moved to the Phoenix area. If any supporters need a tax deduction for their gift, they can mail it to Families With a Mission at P.O. Box 63125, Colorado Springs, CO 80962. The supporters would need to write their check to "Families With A Mission" and put a separate note on it that it is for the Haggard family, then Families With a Mission will mail us 90% of the funds for support and use 10% for administrative costs.

But it turns out that Family With a Mission no longer exists; it was voluntarily dissolved early this year. But it gets weirder: the guy behind this group, it appears, is a convicted sex offender:

There's only one name on file with the Colorado Secretary of State in connection with Families With a Mission: Paul Huberty.

Huberty is the "registered agent" of Families With a Mission and the registered agent's mailing address--POB 63125, Colorado Springs, CO 80962-3125--is the same address Haggard included in his letter to his supporters. Another address on file with the Colorado Secretary of State for Families With a Mission is 855 Pebble Creek Ct., Monument, CO 80132. That's the charity's "principal office mailing address." According to the Assessor's office in El Paso County, Colorado, 855 Pebble Creek Ct. is a private residence owned by Paul Huberty. (The only other address listed for Families With a Mission is a home that Huberty used to own.)

And here's what Coffman learned when he started searching through public records: A man named Paul G. Huberty was convicted of having sex with his 17 year-old ward while he was in the military and stationed in Germany. Paul G. Huberty eventually moved to Hawaii, where he was on that state's sex offender registry--you can download a PDF here. Hawaii's sex offender registry mentions a conviction for a sex offense in 2004. Court records in Hawaii show that Paul G. Huberty was found guilty of attempted sexual assault in January of 2004 (download 'em here, here, and here), and sentenced a year in jail with all but six months suspended. Huberty was also put on probation for five years, ordered to take polygraphs, not allowed to possess pornography, "not allowed on the property of Kona Christian Academy" and other schools, not allowed to posses firearms, forbidden from foster parenting or being the guardian of a minor, and ordered to pay restitution to a crime victims fund.

When Paul G. Huberty's moved out of the state of Hawaii he was required to register his new address, which he did: 855 Pebble Creek Ct., Monument, CO 80132, the "principal mailing address" for the charity Families With a Mission, which also happens to be a home owned by Paul Huberty, the registered charity's agent.

So the man who heads up the defunct charity Families With a Mission--the charity that's going to take a 10% cut from all "tax deductible" donations to the Haggard family--would appear to be a registered sex offender. Well, in Hawaii at any rate. Paul Huberty has not, according to publicly available records, registered as a sex offender in Colorado, something he is required to do by state law. Coffman put in a call to officials in Colorado to see if Huberty has registered too recently to appear on the sex offenders website, and he's waiting to hear back.

Makes you wonder what exactly the mission of Families with a Mission really is.