TB Investigates

Springfield BLM Activist Bishop Talbert Swan Owed $81K In Child Support, Evades Taxes, Attacks “Mayonnaise Dripping” White People, Promotes Homophobia

Aidan KearneyJuly 21, 2020

 

Talbert Swan is a bishop from Springfield, a BLM activist, and the President of the Springfield area NAACP.

He is outspoken in his liberal political beliefs on social media, frequently replies aggressively to President Trump, and often uses language unbecoming of a man of the cloth. He often refers to white people as “mayo dripping neanderthals.”

He attacked a white man on Twitter by calling him a “mayonnaise dipping saltine,” and accused his wife of getting “injections in her baloney lips, implants in her pancake derriere, tans, and weaves trying to look black.”

He attacked a child who was the victim of an online smear campaign for smiling while a man banged a drum in his face by calling the child a “white supremacist in training.”

He referred to Congressman Dan Crenshaw, who lost an eye while serving his country overseas, as a “one eyed bandit.”

In 2018 he was suspended from Twitter for two weeks after calling Candace Owens a “coon,” but then had it reinstated after the 150K followers of his blue checkmark verified account whined about it. You’re allowed to be racist on Twitter against black people, so long as you’re doing it in the name of social justice.

Swan has been vocal about the firing of Springfield Police Detective Florissa Fuentes after she shared an image on social media of rioters holding a sign that said, “shoot the f*** back,” claiming inaccurately that she was fired for a “pro black lives matter post.”

Over the weekend he was protesting Nathan Bills bar for its “racist” dress code banning gang colors and do-rags, claiming this was code for “no n****rs allowed.”

As if all black people are predisposed to dressing like extras in a 90’s rap video.

He’s been a very vocal critic of police chief Cheryl Clapprood and recently started a petition that she be fired.

However, as a leader in the black community he has repeatedly turned down her requests for a meeting to discuss what can be done to work together moving forward.

Mayor Dominic Sarno has the same complaint.

Sarno said community engagement has been a focus of his administration. He said he and members of his administration meet continually with city groups all over the city to discuss violence and Swan is “never there.”

Swan carries political power not only in Springfield but in Massachusetts as a whole, since he is the face of Western Massachusetts BLM. He is a supporter of Congressman Richard Neal, who values his endorsement.

Senator Ed Markey courted his endorsement for Senate during his first run for the office. Senator Elizabeth Warren did the same during her run in 2012. Attorney General Maura Healey placed him on her Advisory Council on Racial Justice and Equity.

However, the endorsements and association with Swan form these prominent liberals seems contradictory considering the fact that that he is an unrepentant homophobe, and the published author of a book titled, “Closing the Closet: Testimonies of Deliverance From Homosexuality.”

The book pushes for conversion therapy, “debunks the myth that individuals are born gay and that change is impossible,” and stresses that “homosexuality is not an immutable trait and that through the power of God, anyone can be delivered from homosexuality.”

Despite his own overt homophobia Swan frequently lashes out at conservatives for being homophobic, and came to the defense of Jussie Smollett who he believed was attacked for being gay.

He recently hosted a panel that included Alyssa Milano, a vocal LGBT advocate, who may be unaware of Swan’s history of homophobia.

Just like many who use the facade of social justice to enrich themselves, Swan II is the pastor of his church and the CEO of a non-profit – COGIC Family Services, Inc, which caused a great deal of controversy last year.

Another earmark in the 2016 budget: $30,000 to fund a health awareness and diabetes prevention program in Springfield, to be implemented by “COGIC Family Services, Inc.” The organization shares an address, and indeed the same phone number as the Spring of Hope Church of God in Christ (COGIC) in Springfield – raising the potential question of whether it crosses the fine line in the Massachusetts constitution prohibiting public funding of religious institutions.

Bishop Talbert Swan II is pastor of the church and also CEO of COGIC Family Services, Inc., as well as president of the Greater Springfield NAACP and the nephew of state Rep. Benjamin Swan, in whose district the church is located. Bishop Swan says the programs are separate, and that the earmarked organization – COGIC Family Services, Inc. – is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization.

But it isn’t registered as a charity with the state attorney general’s office, nor listed as a tax-exempt organization by the IRS. A separate organization with an almost identical name, “COGIC Family Services Corp.” – which also lists Swan as its CEO – had its nonprofit status revoked last year.

And while COGIC Family Services Inc. has filed annual reports with the Secretary of State – the only paperwork generally vetted by Senate Ways and Means committee staff – it filed the last three years’ worth of reports on Aug. 24 and 25 – after the organization was contacted with questions for this report.

Nevertheless, due to Swan’s perceived control of black voting blocks in Springfield, State Senator James Welch insisted that Swan continue to receive taxpayer money.
State Sen. James Welch, the West Springfield Democrat who sponsored the earmark, said by phone that he understood the organization to be separate from the church, and that he thought Bishop Swan’s program deserved funding.

Swan and his wife drive a BMW and Mercedes, but we have confirmed that he is on welfare (food assistance program), something he would only be able to do if he was hiding income. Yet Talbert Swan lives quite comfortably and dressed extravagantly.

Nevertheless Swan insists that he pays his fair share in taxes.

I would encourage Swan to produce his taxes in order to prove this, since the fact that he is on government assistance would seem to indicate that he’s not reporting all of his income, nor is his non-profit registered with the AGO. He also frequently criticizes President Trump for not producing his taxes.

Swan’s uncle is former Rep. Benjamin Swan, in whose district the church is located. His uncle was one of five State Reps who voted not to expel Representative Carlos Hernriquez after he was convicted of assaulting a woman and sentenced to 2.5 years in prison but wanted to serve in office from jail.

During the COVID crisis Swan routinely held services with dozens of people while simultaneously chastising people for not staying home on social media.

Churches in Massachusetts were not to reopen until May 18, yet here Swan is on May 3 delivering a sermon to hooting and hollering churchgoers while not wearing a mask.

Swan is also a father of several children, frequently lashes out at “deadbeats” who don’t take care of their kids or pay child support, and alleges that most of these people are white.

Yet Swan himself is a deadbeat dad who has had multiple liens placed on him for non-payment of child support.

The balances owed in 1991 and 1992 were for $3,720 and $2,793.84.

Shortly after that he went to jail for larceny stemming from a dispute in which he failed to pay a mechanic.

Ten years later he still owed child support and had another lien placed.

When confronted with this on Twitter today Swan claimed that the document provided was a release of his lien from 28 years ago.

Funny thing about being a father is you can pay for child support without a court first placing a lien on you. However, he has been supportive of his son’s burgeoning rap career.

In order to have a lien placed on you for non-payment of child support one must refuse to initially pay child support. The release from the lien was also 17 years after it was first assessed, and could’ve been thrown out of court for a variety of reasons, including crying poverty.

By the time he was released from the lien he owed a grand total of $81,656.89 in child support.

But child support isn’t the only thing Talbert Swan likes to avoid paying. He had another lien placed on him in 2012 for unpaid taxes, despite frequently criticizing Trump for allegedly doing the same.

In 2006 Ford seized their vehicle due to nonpayment. He owed nearly $12K.

Both Swan and his wife Cynthia likely have damaged their credit scored beyond repair, which is possibly why his wife had to use her maiden name to take out a mortgage

Cynthia likewise had a judgement placed against her by Ford for $7,326.80 in 2003.

  

In 2015 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts seized his land because he owed the state $6,056.65.

In 2009 a debt collection company won a judgement of 4,045.82 against Swan.

In 2007 another debt collector was awarded a judgement of $1,215.34 against his wife Cynthia.

After a tornado devastated much of Western Massachusetts in 2011 Swan signed a contact agreeing to pay a contractor $275K to do repairs to his church at 35 Alden Street.

 However, he ended up stiffing the contractor for $47,849.81.

stiffing contractor for church work (1)

Talbert Swan presents himself as a man of the cloth and a moral authority. He carries political power and wields it as a weapon against people he arbitrarily decides are racist. He bullied the owner of Nathan Bills to pay $6,500 to pain Black Lives Matter on the streets of Springfield. He is treated as a legitimate civil rights leader by politicians, and has a seat at the table. But in reality Talbert Swan is a con-man who uses the facade of religion and social justice to enrich himself while avoiding creditors and the tax man. Anyone associated with him should reconsider their relationship moving forward.

 

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Hello Turtle Riders. As you know if you follow Turtleboy we are constantly getting censored and banned by Facebook for what are clearly not violations of their terms of service. Twitter has done the same, and trolls mass reported our blog to Google AdSense thousands of times, leading to demonetization. We can get by and survive, but we could really use your help. Please consider donating by hitting the Donation button above if you'd like support free speech and what we do in the face of Silicon Valley censorship. Or just buy our award winning book about the dangers of censorship and rise of Turtleboy:  Qries
Aidan KearneyJuly 21, 2020