Accused bishop dies of cancer

ATLANTA, March 29 (UPI) -- Bishop Earl Paulk, a charismatic preacher dogged by accusations of sexual impropriety, has died of cancer in Atlanta at age 81, his family says.

Paulk died Saturday at the Atlanta Medical Center, Paulk's nephew, Bishop Jim Swilley, wrote in a blog post.

Paulk founded one of the country's first evangelical megachurches, the Chapel Hill Harvester Church in Decatur, a suburb of Atlanta, CNN reported Sunday. The Pentacostal minister was ordained a bishop by the International Communion of Charismatic Churches.

But his church membership dropped from 10,000 to about 1,000 after he was accused, but never prosecuted, for alleged sexual impropriety.

Paulk settled out of court in 2003 with an accuser who alleged he molested her as a child, while a second woman accused him of a 14-year affair, CNN reported. Paulk said the second woman was the only person he had sex with outside of marriage, but a court-ordered paternity test showed he also allegedly fathered a child with his sister-in-law, CNN reported.

"As most of you know, my family has been walking through a very long nightmare season in connection with things concerning him," Swilley wrote. "Please pray for some much needed healing and closure for us all."