Homeless shelter woes

Tuesday, April 15, 2003 | 11:19 a.m.

Before he became the center of a controversy for trying to help others, Anthony V. Mosley needed a lot of help himself.

The 38-year-old window washing company owner who is trying to keep the city of Las Vegas from closing God in Me Ministries' shelter for the homeless says he is no stranger to adversity.

Ten years ago that's how he became involved with the shelter, when the man who ran it at the time helped Mosley rebuild a life that had bottomed out.

Mosley said he had been on top of the world in the early 1990s. A local high school track standout, Mosley had graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, had an engineer's job with the Clark County Fire Department and had just become engaged.

But then he learned that his fiancee was not only pregnant but was also HIV-positive, he said. The marriage was called off. Mosley said he was HIV-negative, but began drinking heavily and dating prostitutes in a fit of depression.

In May 1992, he was charged with first-degree kidnapping, battery with intent to commit a felony and sexual assault. He allegedly beat and raped a woman at his home.

In July 1992, he pleaded guilty to the felony battery charge and in return prosecutors dropped the kidnapping and rape charges. During the sentencing, he told the judge that the woman was a prostitute whom he had picked up on Fremont Street.

The fire department promptly fired Mosley for moral turpitude.

The judge gave Mosley a five-year suspended sentence, placed him on probation and required him to undergo counseling. He also was required to do 60 hours of community service.

"A friend took me to church and I started working on my problems," Mosley said.

His fiancee died of AIDS a short time later, he said, but his son survived and today is HIV-negative, though he is estranged from him.

Mosley performed his court-ordered community service for Aid For AIDS of Nevada, serving meals to the afflicted, and started going to Sunday prayer breakfast at the El Cortez, where he met legendary Las Vegas homeless advocate "Chaplain" Joe Prange of the God in Me Ministries, a modest four-unit homeless shelter.

That encounter led to a friendship that lasted until Prange died in February 2000. Mosley took over Prange's organization. Mosley said that with Prange in mind, he planned to keep the shelter open throughout his own lifetime.

Though born in Chicago, Mosley has lived in Las Vegas since 1977. He graduated from Bridger Junior High. At Rancho High School he was a standout in cross country and track and field.

He got a full-ride cross country scholarship to UNLV, and after college he joined the fire department. But after losing his career -- the turning point in his life, he now says -- Mosley found himself $16,000 in credit card debt.

Under the Prange's guidance Mosley was able to start Window Bright Inc., which he said today has 5,000 local customers.

Mosley says he is proud that in just three years at the helm he has helped 2,400 men get off skid row. However, he says, he has hired only one man from the shelter to work for him during that time.

"Because of this (zoning controversy) my business has suffered and my home life has suffered," the father of three said.

"I inherited this can of worms, but I also believe we are doing the right thing," he said. "I understand why the city feels it is on the defensive. But I know this is a good fight and we are going to see it through to the end."