Couple’s Suit Claims Romanian Pastor Ruined Their Restaurant

A couple is suing a Romanian pastor and his church, claiming he ruined their business when he warned his congregation that their restaurant was a place of “evildoing.”

Peter and Joanne Mann say the warning from Pastor Niki Pop of the Philadelphia Romanian Pentacostal Church forced them to close their restaurant in July because so many people had stopped eating there.

According to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Pop told his congregation in February that the Transylvania Restaurant was an “evil place, … sold alcoholic beverages to minors and maintained a place of evildoing.”

Pop also warned the congregation that members of the church board would watch the restaurant, and anyone who went there would be excommunicated, the lawsuit said.

The Transylvania Restaurant - which received its license to serve spirits two days before Halloween last year - has not been cited for serving alcohol to minors, according to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission.

The Manns’ restaurant did not have a Dracula theme, they said. It was a simply furnished place that members of the Romanian community had helped them open. It served Romanian, Greek and Croatian dishes.

On weekends, Peter Mann turned the space into a nightclub with disco dancing and Romanian musicians.

Pop couldn’t be reached from comment; he is in Romania until Halloween.

Vasile Cinpean, the church board’s secretary, said he was surprised by the lawsuit but said he could not comment on what Pop had preached from the pulpit.