A defendant in a sprawling federal fraud lawsuit over a failed $2 billion Oklahoma theme park has admitted he faked messages purporting to come from God and a nun, using them to help steer 90-year-old Pizza Hut mogul Gene Bicknell's fortune into the doomed project. Larry Silanskas acknowledged authoring and sending the so-called “Today's Word” emails, styled as divine messages, along with correspondence from a fictional “Sister Catherine,” according to Bicknell's attorneys.
The admission surfaced in the ongoing lawsuit Bicknell filed against Larry Wilhite, Richard Silanskas, and Stephen Hedrick, according to KFOR. Bicknell has alleged his former partners used religion to manipulate him into pouring his fortune into the American Heartland theme park, a project the station reports never came to fruition. Bicknell's attorneys say Silanskas also admitted lying under oath during a previous deposition, and Silanskas said he lied because he feared Bicknell would hurt him or have someone hurt his family, according to the outlet's reporting.
The theme park was originally pitched as a can't-miss regional attraction. As first announced in July 2023, the proposed 1,000-acre development along historic Route 66 in Vinita was planned to include a 125-acre theme park, a 320-acre RV park with 750 sites and 300 cabins, and a 300-room hotel with an indoor water park, according to reporting cited by Construction Briefing. Promoters marketed the project as designed by a team that included more than 20 former Walt Disney Imagineers and theme park builders, and projected the park would draw up to 5 million visitors annually, per the Disney Tourist Blog. KFOR reports the park was slated to rival major parks including Disney World and was described as a multi-billion-dollar venture.
Millions Spent, Little Built
Despite the grand pitch, physical progress on the ground told a different story. Despite receiving over $60 million in funding from Bicknell, the site had seen no substantial construction completed as of mid-2025 other than a perimeter fence and a gravel road, according to Construction Dive. Silanskas and Wilhite were alleged to have secured millions from Bicknell and to have received two-thirds ownership of the completed venture, KFOR reports.
Bicknell built his fortune long before the theme park deal collapsed. He opened his first Pizza Hut franchise in 1962. NPC International later became the world's largest Pizza Hut franchise operator, with more than 800 restaurants, according to Encyclopedia.com, which notes the chain operated roughly 12 percent of all Pizza Hut locations nationwide at its height. In May 2022, the Kansas Supreme Court ordered the State of Kansas to pay Bicknell more than $63 million to resolve a 15-year tax dispute, ruling he had legally been a Florida resident when he sold NPC International, per AP News.
A Trusted Relationship Turned Legal Battle
Wilhite was not a stranger to Bicknell. He had a 20-year trusted relationship with Bicknell and his family, and Bicknell had previously hired him to manage the Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts in Branson, Missouri, where Wilhite worked as a former preacher turned theater executive, according to court filings. Wilhite's attorneys, Deric McClellan and Chris Davis, said their client did not know Silanskas was behind the messages until cell phone records were produced and Silanskas testified, and that Wilhite was surprised by Silanskas's admissions, KFOR reports.
Wilhite's legal team maintains he did not harm or defraud Bicknell, describing him instead as a victim who believed the messages came from God and who believed the theme park was a viable project. Silanskas, for his part, is representing himself in the lawsuit and did not respond to the station's questions about his admissions.
Third Defendant Says He Was Never Paid
The third named defendant, Steve Hedrick, is a theme park designer who spent more than two decades with Disney and worked on major theme park and entertainment projects around the world. His attorney, Liz George, said Hedrick had nothing to do with the Today's Word or Sister Catherine communications, according to the same reporting. Hedrick devoted substantial time and professional services to the American Heartland project but was never fully paid for his work, per his attorney.
Legal Fallout Still Unfolding
Bicknell's civil suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, accuses the defendants of racketeering, civil conspiracy, fraud, deceit, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and unjust enrichment, according to court records reviewed by Attractions Magazine. The suit includes federal RICO claims and other state and common-law claims, per court documents.
Separately, federal filings from January 2026 show Silanskas was accused by Bicknell's attorneys of using generative AI to write court filings, which prompted a judicial warning about fake legal citations and potential Rule 11 sanctions. Bicknell's lawsuit further alleges that the emotional distress from the prolonged manipulation and the multi-million-dollar losses contributed to a stroke he suffered in 2024 at age 91, according to Construction Dive's reporting on the case.
