Church tells LV man to stay away

Members of the First Thai Laotian Presbyterian Church once reached out to a 22-year-old woman with cerebral palsy and her older husband who does not work, but now feel their generosity has been repaid with threats and intimidation.

On Tuesday, a civil protection order was served against the 50-year-old husband, Greg Nance Dagani, telling him to stay off church property and not to contact the pastor, the Rev. Prachaub Dechawan, or his congregation.

Dagani received the order in a hallway outside a family law courtroom while awaiting a guardianship hearing for his handicapped wife, Sharona Dagani. Scott Cantor, a lawyer for Greg Dagani's mother-in-law, Joan Albstein, alleges that he is one in a string of "undue influences" which have manipulated her daughter to access her $2 million trust fund.

District Judge Charles Hoskin continued the guardianship case because he did not think that "undue influence" could be the legal grounds for declaring someone "mentally incompetent." He decided to allow Cantor to make the argument in a report.

After the case was continued to Sept. 15, Greg Dagani, a former member of the Nevada State Board of Education, exchanged words with another church member in the same courthouse hallway.

Dennis Wallace, a 59-year-old Vietnam War veteran with bone cancer, said, "My heart was racing" as he felt Greg Dagani tried to incite him into a fight. A bailiff called for extra security before Dagani walked away.

Wallace said Dagani owes him $4,000 in back rent and eviction fees, which he is pursuing in small claims court. Plus, Wallace said he is missing furniture from the house in North Las Vegas that the couple used to rent from him.

Wallace let the couple stay there for four months this past spring at half the cost he normally charges. Plus, the pastor, Dechawan, and his wife, Gloria, purchased the couple a $2,000 bedroom set on the condition they would be paid back.

The pastor said he is still making payments on the bedroom set but has never received any reimbursement from the Daganis. Dechawan and his wife also allege that Greg Dagani has made harassing phone calls and text messages to them and other church members.

Dagani denied the allegations. Also, he called the church at 4601 W. Lake Mead Blvd. a "cult" that taught young women to "let sexual pervs" touch them. "That clearly goes against the teaching of the Bible," he said.

Church members said Dagani would misconstrue ordinary hugging and blessings, such as a laying of the hands, as sexual acts.

Dagani would not comment on the money he owes to church members except to say that he is filing for bankruptcy. Because his wife has a separate trust, she was able to purchase the couple a $260,000 house near the Las Vegas Beltway and Jones Boulevard in southwest Las Vegas.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug @reviewjournal.com or 702-374-7917.