Another Widow Sues Evangelist

TULSA, Okla. - A second widow who received letters promising miracles for her dead husband has sued television evangelist Robert Tilton, setting the stage for what her attorney said could be a class-action lawsuit.

Dorothy Ries said yesterday that within a month after her husband, Fred, died of throat cancer Jan. 6, Tilton sent him three letters promising healing and miracles.

It was the second such suit filed against Tilton in two weeks.

At a news conference, Ries displayed a letter that her attorney said was a replica of a note Tilton sent to another man whose widow last month sued the preacher. Tilton's ministry is based in Farmers Branch, Texas, near Dallas.

In the February suit, Beverly Crowley of Wynona, Okla., said she received mail from Tilton promising a miracle for her husband, Tom, five months after he died of kidney failure.

The letters to both men said God told Tilton that he wanted to restore their health.

The Crowleys sent Tilton $75 after watching his Sunday-morning show; Ries said she sent nothing.

"We didn't send money because we didn't have it," Ries said.

Crowley filed a $40 million lawsuit against Tilton on Feb. 27. Ries' lawsuit, like Crowley's, contends that Tilton has committed fraud and "malicious infliction of emotional distress." She also seeks $40 million in punitive damages from Tilton.

Both women said that despite writing letters to Tilton informing him that their husbands had died, letters from Tilton continued coming.