ALBANY – A Texas man acting as an insurance adjuster cheated an Albany church out of millions of dollars paid out by its insurance company to repair its facilities, which were heavily damaged by Hurricane Michael in 2018 and are still not fully repaired.

Andrew Mitchell aka “Andrew Aga,” 45, of Kemeh, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud before U.S. District Judge W. Louis Sands on Thursday. Mitchell faces a maximum of 30 years in prison, to be followed by at least three years of supervised release and a $1 million fine. The court will determine a sentencing date. There is no parole in the federal system.

“It is disheartening to see someone willing to defraud a place of worship in the wake of a major natural disaster, especially when its congregation trusted the defendant and all those involved to act lawfully and help them repair their historic downtown facility after Hurricane Michael,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Shanelle Booker. “Together with our federal prosecutorial team, investigators from the Georgia Insurance Commissioner’s Office thoroughly examined years of fraud to ensure that Andrew Mitchell is held accountable for his crime.” 

According to court documents and statements referenced in court, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church on Pine Avenue in Albany was damaged by Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 hurricane that made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida, on Oct. 10, 2018. The storm’s eyewall struck the Albany community as a Category 3 hurricane with winds of up to 115 miles per hour and significant rainfall. Friendship Baptist Church sustained damage; an initial inspection revealed at least $216,000 in damages. The facility was insured by Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Brotherhood Mutual issued a check for $183,207.89 on Nov. 15, 2018, to Friendship Baptist to cover partial repairs, which was sent via the United States Postal Service and was deposited.

In November 2018, a man who claimed to be associated with a national construction company, met with the church’s pastor, Carl White, to discuss serving as the contractor. A second meeting was held on Nov. 20, 2018, between the man and White, along with Friendship Missionary Baptist Church’s Board of Directors Co-Chairperson Willie Thomas. The man provided a contract authorizing Mitchell, aka “Aga,” to act as a public adjuster.

Between December 2018 and June 2022, according to court documents and statements in court, Mitchell corresponded with Brotherhood Mutual, representing himself as an adjuster. He provided multiple estimates and proofs of loss, the largest of which was $7.495 million. On July 10, 2019, the insurance company issued a check to the church and Mitchell for more than $3.3 million. Later it issued two other checks, one for $2.76 million and one for more than $500,000.

Documents and statements presented in court said the church’s endorsement on the checks was forged.

Some work was done on the church by the construction company, under a contract valued at more than $18 million. The church paid the company $150,000 and Mitchell paid it $2.3 million. When the money stopped coming in, the company stopped work.

In total, Brotherhood Mutual Insurance issued $6,866,606.80 in payments intended exclusively for the church’s hurricane repairs.