FBI doesn’t say why it searched Angel Food Ministries

The FBI searched a Georgia nonprofit that sells an estimated $100 million of food yearly to the needy, and is run by a minister whose life took a dramatic turn after he served a year in prison in the early 1990s.

Steve Lazarus, an FBI spokesman, confirmed the agency served two search warrants at Angel Food Ministries near Monroe Wednesday. Lazarus declined to say what agents were looking for or found.

The nonprofit is run by Joe Wingo, his wife and two sons. More than 200 metro Atlanta churches participate in the program.

A call to Angel Food Ministries was not returned.

An e-mail from Ronn Torossian, a spokesman for Angel Food Ministries, said the nonprofit was cooperating with the FBI and that it would make no further statements.

After the FBI visit, an e-mail was sent from Angel Food to the churches that help sell the food, saying deliveries would continue.

The Wingos started the nonprofit in 1994. Wingo knew what hard times were, he said in an interview in 2008, because he and his family lived through a few.

He owned an insurance business in Gwinnett County and was serving as a member of the county hospital authority in 1989, when he pleaded guilty to extorting $17,500 from a neurosurgeon. He served a year in prison.

After his release, Wingo worked jobs such as delivering dry cleaning, got into the ministry and started Angel Food Ministries when he saw his neighbors’ need, he said last year.

Wingo’s idea was to buy food at discount and use a network of churches and volunteer labor to sell it, with just enough profit to keep the organization running, he said. He would donate $1 back to churches for every box sold for the once-a-month deliveries. A box cost $30, or $30 worth of food stamps. Buyers got about double the value of what they would pay for in a store.

The nonprofit sells more than $100 million worth of food through churches in 38 states, Wingo said last year.

Glenda Evans of Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Conyers, a distributor, said her church has not gotten the per-box donation, now $2, in recent weeks. She called the nonprofit, who told her the check for nearly $400 was in the mail. The nonprofit has been easy to work with and delivered quality food for the money, she said.

With success, the Wingos went from scraping by to doing well.

The four Wingos’ combined salaries for running Angel Food in 2006 added up to $175,000 a month — more than $2.1 million for the year, according to the most recent available Internal Revenue Service documents.

Joe Wingo, as CEO, earned $588,529; Linda as vice-CEO got $544,043, son Andy as treasurer got $529,014; and the nonprofit paid son Wesley as president $454,653.

Another Wingo, L.M. Wingo, listed as manager, earned $384,694. It is unclear if this person is related to the family.

The next highest paid employee, a manager-director at Angel Food Ministries, earned $62,740 a year, a salary more typical for a nonprofit, according to groups who track such numbers.

Minister Ray Owens, who runs a ministry working with homeless men in Atlanta, says the Angel Food helps, and the Wingos have helped him personally, giving his ministry a van and food.

He did not mind the salaries.

“When you are doing God’s work, you are supposed to be well taken care of,” he said.