TULSA, Okla. — A man who ran the local nonprofit Oklahoma Heartland Heroes Foundation is facing federal charges for bank fraud. 

There’s a federal warrant to arrest Victor Kensington Colbert, Jr. He is accused of fraud over government funding from the CARES Act during the pandemic. 

FOX23 has been looking into this story since receiving a tip in 2021 for an odor complaint. 

“…All we are doing is feeding people,” Colbert said at the time. “That’s all we are doing…trying to feed as many as we possibly can.” 

Colbert described his nonprofit as “an effort to feed thousands of Oklahomans each week.” When FOX23 visited, hundreds of boxes of spoiled food were stacked behind a north Tulsa church. 

Gallons of milk and containers of cottage cheese gone bad. The food came from the federal government, paid for with tax dollars through the USDA’s “Go Fresh — Framers to Families” program, which began because of COVID-19. 

Colbert blamed the church next door for the mess, but the pastors there said that wasn’t true. 

“That was just false accusations,” said Pastor Shelley Crawford. “We tried to work with them many times. They did try to give us some food one time, but it was bad. We couldn’t get it to the public.” 

Colbert told FOX23 he had permission to use the property and claimed the nonprofit distributed most of its food successfully. However, the church’s pastors said the property was eventually left in ruins and the smell was unbearable. 

“It was smelling so bad outside our church we couldn’t be outside,” Crawford said. “The flies were horrible.” 

The USDA later confirmed it had investigated the nonprofit and stated it “no longer provides food to Oklahoma Heartland Heroes.” 

Others said the Colberts caused similar problems elsewhere. Robert Stamper told FOX23 the couple leased land from him near Terlton but never paid rent and left freezers full of food outside. 

“This one’s got sausage, turkey, ribs, fish,” Stamper said. “It thawed out, and they had to refreeze it again. Been doing that two or three times.” 

Stamper sued the Colberts, and a judge ruled in his favor. They left behind a massive mess just as Stamper predicted. 

Bill Bressler said the same thing happened to him. 

“They can lay down a line of crap better than anyone I’ve seen,” said Bressler. 

Even the pastor of Church That Matters in Sand Springs, Rusty Gunn, said his church lost money to the Colberts. 

Gunn recognized them from FOX23’s report and said they convinced his church to pay $6,700 for Thanksgiving turkeys that never came. 

“The money itself certainly hurt us in that moment,” said Gunn. “It was a big gut punch.” 

The Tulsa Dream Center also paid the Colberts’ nonprofit nearly $29,000 for hams and turkeys but “never received any products they paid for,” according to court documents. 

A judge later ordered the Colberts to pay back both the Tulsa Dream Center and part of what they owed to the church. They wrote one $79 check then stopped paying. That is when a state warrant was issued for their arrest. 

Now, federal prosecutors have filed new charges against Victor Colbert. 

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Colbert took out several COVID-related loans totaling about $217,000, submitting at least five applications for CARES Act funds. 

The indictment claimed he falsely reported having as many as 21 employees and a monthly payroll of $59,000. 

Throughout the investigation, FOX23 saw few employees, if any. At one point, a relative of the Colberts threw broccoli at a FOX23 drone and stepped on it after it landed. 

“I promise you, my wife and I are good people,” Colbert told FOX23 in 2021. “It’s always trying to defend myself all the time when I haven’t done anything wrong. All I’m trying to do is feed people.” 

Pastors and community leaders said otherwise. 

“You cannot work with people who are dishonest and deceitful,” Crawford said. 

“Grace abounds,” Gunn said. “We just don’t want to see it happen to anybody else.” 

Most COVID-era business loans were forgiven, meaning companies didn’t have to pay them back. But if convicted, Victor Colbert could face up to 60 years in federal prison and $2 million in fines. 

He’s scheduled to appear in federal court in November.