DENVER ��" The state attorney general’s office has filed theft and forgery charges against the Rev. Acen L. Phillips of Denver after a monthslong investigation into his financial dealings, authorities said today.

Nate Strauch, a spokesman for Attorney General John Suthers, declined to give any details. Suthers scheduled a news conference for later today.

State authorities said earlier this year they were looking into at least one life insurance policy through a group called American Church United, which listed Phillips as its chief executive officer.

The policy investigators cited was taken out on Shely Lowe, who died in May 2006. Police in suburban Aurora had named Lowe a person of interest in the disappearance of a 7-year-old girl Aarone Thompson.

Aaron Thompson, Aarone’s father and Lowe’s live-in boyfriend, has been indicted on charges of fatal child abuse and other counts in the case.

AIG Life Insurance Co. filed a civil suit in March accusing Phillips and four affiliated church groups of filing fraudulent life insurance claims on behalf of parishioners.

The lawsuit claimed Phillips and the four groups of providing life insurance policies to 316 people but arranged for any payouts to go to him and his collaborators.

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By The Associated Press

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