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An Oxon Hill business is facing allegations that it has been defrauding churches nationwide by sticking worship centers with exorbitant bills for computer kiosks it placed in parish halls.

According to a lawsuit filed by the Washington, D.C. attorney general's office on behalf of 43 churches in the city, the Urban Interfaith Network Inc. of Oxon Hill allegedly promised free kiosks to worship centers and then charged the religious groups thousands of dollars in leases for the devices.

Several leasing companies are also being sued for billing the churches for allegedly fraudulent leases set up by Urban Interfaith, according to the lawsuit. At least 27 Prince George's churches and three in Silver Spring are listed in court papers as customers of the company, though not all may be victims.

Urban Interfaith's customer list includes more than 580 churches nationwide.

No complaints have been made in Maryland, a spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office said.

One church in Washington, D.C., has lost $62,000 in the scam, according to the lawsuit, while three county clergy members confirmed that some local churches have lost money on the kiosks.

"We've been fortunate, but a number of my colleagues are having problems," said the Rev. Jonathan Weaver, pastor of Greater Mt. Nebo AME Church in Bowie, who has been working with county churches allegedly taken by the kiosk scheme. "I am absolutely appalled."

No telephone number could be found for Urban Interfaith, which had addresses in Oxon Hill and Temple Hills, according to court papers. The company is owned by Willie Perkins of Washington, D.C., and Michael J. Morris of Waldorf. The two men also operated a separate company, Television Broadcasting Online, from the same addresses, according to the lawsuit.

Reached by phone Friday, Perkins referred questions to his attorney.

According to court papers, Urban Interfaith approached churches beginning in 2004, offering to install free computers in their lobbies that congregants could use to look up information on nearby businesses and restaurants, as well as read notices of church activities. The company allegedly promised possible profits for churches if the kiosks were successful and advertisers adopted the service.

Though it was promised as a free service, Urban Interfaith made each church sign a contract to pay an $8,790 annual lease on the computers, but church officials were assured by Perkins and Morris the money would come from Urban Interfaith, according to the lawsuit. At the same time, Urban Interfaith had an agreement with several leasing companies that gave Perkins and Morris a $30,000 commission for each kiosk churches agreed to lease, according to lawsuit documents.

According to the lawsuit, Urban Interfaith initially gave the churches checks to pay for the leases though the checks would occasionally bounce. After several parishes complained, Urban Interfaith later promised to pay the leasers directly but did not, the lawsuit states. Then the leasing companies began billing the churches directly, prosecutors alleged in court papers.

The same situation happened at the Progressive Church of Camp Springs, the church's pastor, Don Massey, said.

"The first few months they [gave us checks], but then it stopped," Massey said. "Then they'd send a few checks, and then it stopped completely."

Massey could not say how much money the kiosks have cost the non-denominational church.

The leasing companies claim in their court filings that the churches owe thousands for the outstanding bills since they signed leases for the equipment. Washington, D.C., prosecutors say the churches were conned and are seeking to overturn the contracts as invalid, according to the suit.

Prosecutors for the Washington, D.C., attorney general's office referred questions to a spokesman, who did not return calls for comment.

In Montgomery County, Duncan McIntosh, pastor at First Baptist Church of Silver Spring, said he met with Perkins five years ago and set up a kiosk upon the approval of the church's trustees.

McIntosh said the kiosk wasn't very useful but sponsorships from a real estate company and an accounting firm paid First Baptist's lease.

However, about a year and a half ago, the sponsors backed out and First Baptist had to pay for six months of its lease. McIntosh said Perkins sent the church a check covering two months of its lease but when that ran out, Perkins "dropped out of the picture."

What saved First Baptist from losing more money, McIntosh said, was its treasurer's refusal to hand over bank account information so the leasing company could make direct withdrawals, instead preferring paper transactions.

"I feel very fortunate," McIntosh said Monday. "When this thing broke I said, ‘Thank you for being so stubborn.'"

In all, First Baptist lost about $3,000 for the purchase of the computer equipment.

Though Massey said his church and others were taken in, two other pastors in Prince George's said that Urban Interfaith kept its promise to pay the leases on the computer equipment.

"We understood completely what we were getting," said Pastor Charles Whitiker of the River of Life Church in Temple Hills.

Whitiker said he believes the payment disparities occurred after Urban Interfaith lost advertising business in the economy. 

Weaver said Urban Interfaith supplied his church with a kiosk, but that the church was never charged for the equipment, which he said the congregation rarely uses.

"Most people who come to church aren't interested," he said. "They come to worship and they leave."

Staff Writer Jason Tomassini contributed to this report.