Former associates at a troubled Las Vegas nonprofit hope to oust the current leadership and give back a measure of control to the Lutheran community that founded it.

Lutheran Social Services of Nevada has been “de-Lutheranized,” said the Rev. Marta Poling Schmitt, a retired Lutheran pastor who resigned last month from the nonprofit’s board of directors. The 40-year-old institution, she said, has deviated from its mission of feeding the hungry and serving those in need.

“There are virtually no Lutherans involved in the management or the leadership of this organization, and because of that, it’s a disaster,” said Schmitt, who rejoined the nonprofit’s board in May after an eight-year absence.

As recently as November, Schmitt was publicly defending the organization’s management.

Although the nonprofit is loosely affiliated with the Lutheran church, the church does not provide direct oversight, though the board’s makeup historically has included Lutheran pastors.

Citing the federal shutdown and insufficient funds, the nonprofit suspended its operations in October. When the organization received tax-credit money in late December, CEO Tim Bedwell immediately made a $42,000 payment to his wife, said former Chief Financial Officer Jon Paul. The claim also is made in a change.org petition calling for the leadership’s ouster.

Schmitt and the Rev. Hans-Lothar Dettling resigned in mid-December from the board after a failed attempt to persuade Bedwell and others running the organization, including board Chairwoman Carrie Cox, to resign.

The ouster attempts follow stories by the Las Vegas Review-Journal documenting complaints of mismanagement at the nonprofit and monthly payments of $8,500 to Bedwell’s wife, Michele, and to her business partner Adam Kent. The payments were made without the benefit of contracts or the knowledge of the full board, according to board members and staff members who resigned in September 2024.

Tim Bedwell, who became CEO in January 2024, said last October that board members either knew or should have known about the payments.

The change.org petition, posted Jan. 23, calls for the resignations of Tim Bedwell, Chief Operating Officer Kent and Cox, a Henderson city councilwoman indicted in November on a felony eavesdropping charge unrelated to the nonprofit. The petition was launched by Schmitt with help from Dettling, Paul and Fierro Communications, a PR consultant paid by Schmitt.

As of Thursday afternoon, the petition had under 200 signatures.

The petition also calls for the resignation of Michele Bedwell, who wrote in a text message to the Review-Journal this week that she no longer is with the nonprofit.

“Lol. I am not there and haven’t been,” wrote Michele Bedwell, who at one point was on the nonprofit’s board, an unpaid position, and more recently worked as a vendor.

Tim Bedwell previously said his wife was paid by the nonprofit for marketing and fundraising services. Michele Bedwell has said that as the staff size dwindled, she took on additional responsibilities.

Tim Bedwell, Kent and Cox did not respond to requests for comment this week. Cox previously said she had no intention of resigning.

“I will not abandon my position on the LSSN Board of Directors while there are hungry individuals who need meals, (and) while there are dedicated people who must be paid,” Cox wrote in a text message to the news organization on Dec. 12.

Since then, the nonprofit’s food pantry operations and hot meals for seniors have not resumed, though there were signs of activity at the organization’s headquarters on Wednesday, despite a “closed” sign.

People are again getting paid, according to Paul.

In late December, the nonprofit received $310,000 in federal tax credits that had been delayed, said Paul, a consultant who served as the agency’s CFO on a part-time basis from February 2025 until late December.

“To my horror, the next day, just one payment was made … to his (Tim Bedwell’s) wife,” Paul said.

The payment, he said, was for $42,279, though Paul said accounts payable ledgers indicated she was due $10,779 less.

“The appalling thing is, with all the other needs, he paid her first,” Paul said, noting that food vendors, the alarm company and others had not been paid.

Paul said he texted Cox, the chair of the nonprofit’s board, asking if she was aware of the December payment to Michele Bedwell. Cox did not respond, he said.

Days later, Tim Bedwell forwarded a message from the board, whose remaining members were Cox and attorney Jason Stoffel. The message was that Paul’s services no longer were needed.

Stoffel did not respond to a request for comment.

After paying his wife with the tax credit funds, Tim Bedwell made payroll, with the amount indicating that he settled past-due payroll, Paul said. Only a handful of employees remained.

In October, Tim Bedwell said he received $210,000 a year and had not been paid in three pay periods. The former North Las Vegas police officer receives a public pension, which amounted to $87,500 last year, according to the Public Employees Retirement System. He said Kent made about $90,000 as COO.

Paul, a member of a local Lutheran congregation, said he had not been paid since July and is owed $25,000, but continued to provide his services until late December.

In addition to calling for the resignations, the petition demands “the immediate return of monies recently paid from the federal Employee Retention Credit (ERC) Program,” tax credits paid for retaining employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The petition states, “We believe that, through your actions, you have completely ignored the critical needs of the homeless and vulnerable communities of the Boulder Highway Corridor while paying Tim and Michele Bedwell and Adam Kent tens of thousands of dollars from the ERC funds which were never intended for that purpose.”

The Metropolitan Police Department’s public integrity unit has been interviewing people formerly associated with the organization about the nonprofit’s financial dealings, including the handling of a multimillion-dollar housing grant terminated after one year, according to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

For the fiscal year ending June 2024, the nonprofit reported in its tax filing gross revenues of $5.1 million and expenses of $4.7 million.

It is now insolvent, Paul said.

Grant dollars have dried up, along with donations from Lutheran churches and the community, he said.

Pastors say their congregations won’t be donating to the nonprofit until the current leadership has exited, according to Schmitt.

The Rev. Paul Block, lead pastor of New Song Church in Henderson, said that in the fall his congregation paused its financial support to the nonprofit, which amounted to about $5,000 a year. He said members of the congregation have been devoted volunteers at the organization, but these efforts, too, have been suspended.

Block said he has had qualms about the nonprofit for more than a year. Pastors discussed among themselves the turmoil at the organization. Volunteers from the church began to express concern about the pantry not being open and about the insufficient amount of food. A member of the congregation became irate upon learning a large donation he made to pay for food would primarily be spent on salaries.

“I’m not sure how LSSN recovers from this,” Block said. “I hope and pray that it does.”

The hope of Paul and Schmitt is that they can re-engage the Lutheran church in the organization. Paul said there is the potential for partnerships with other organizations to help run the nonprofit.

But first the current leadership needs to go, he said. “I think there’s a path forward, but we have to get them out of there.”

Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com or at 702-383-0336. Follow @MaryHynes1 on X. Hynes is a member of the Review-Journal’s investigative team, focusing on reporting that holds leaders and agencies accountable and exposes wrongdoing.