Russian Christian Preacher Grigori Grabovoy gets 11 years for resurrection scam

At the pinnacle of his popularity Grigory Grabovoy drew hundreds of heartbroken people to his seminars. These were the most vulnerable, those who had lost someone they loved and were willing to shell out hard earned cash on the promise that he could "resurrect" them. I only wish this were the synopsis of the latest Stephen King novel.

Grabovoy stood inside an iron cage while being sentenced to 11 years in prison at hard labor in what is a notorious case in Russia. When handing down 11 cases of fraud, the judge stated, "He used a special method of influencing people distressed by the loss of relatives or the illness of loved ones,"

As examples of his "work", In one case from 2003 a man paid Grabovoy 39,500 roubles ($1,700) to attempt to cure his dying parents and in another case a woman paid him 118,000 roubles to try to resurrect her two dead sons. Grabovoy had also once met with mothers of children killed at a school siege in the south Russian town of Beslan in 2004 -- where he had promised to resurrect their children for a fee -- although Monday's verdict was not linked to this meeting.

Through all of this, there are still many followers who feel he has special powers which will help them, and he has been dealt with unfairly, plans are in the works for an appeal. No reports of raised dead have been reported, yet his devotees remain loyal to a fault. That in itself, may well be the biggest mystery here. Russian claiming resurrection powers, convicted for scamming money from the grieving

Editor's note: If we applied the same criteria of religious fraud in America I would guess every TV preacher here would be in jail!