DALLAS — For Pastor Corey Maxey, the case wasn’t just about fraud on paper — it was about losing his family’s place of worship.

His grandfather had founded the West Dallas church.

“I didn't understand how the law did not help us out when we had documentations of who I am and all of that,” Maxey said.

And the fraud, he said, was carried out by someone who called himself a pastor.

“When we called the police out, police told us we had a civil situation,” Maxey recalled.

In 2017, Pastor Whitney Foster transferred ownership of the church from Maxey’s congregation.

“It scattered my congregation. And so, it kind of broke us up,” Maxey said.

Cases like Maxey’s — highlighted in WFAA’s Dirty Deeds series since 2019 — helped push for a new law taking effect in January. The law passed durin

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