COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The megachurch pastor forced out of his job after being caught up in a sex scandal involving a former male prostitute has returned to Colorado Springs.

The Gazette of Colorado Springs reported that Ted Haggard answered the door at his home there on Saturday evening.

"I can't talk to you. I am forbidden from talking to the media," Haggard told Gazette.

The severance deal he reached with New Life Church in 2006 included a gag order but it also required that he leave the city.

Haggard and his wife Gayle still own a five-bedroom, three-bath home in the city but it wasn't immediately clear whether they had moved back into the home or were just there temporarily.

New Life's new pastor Brady Boyd was busy with Sunday services and couldn't immediately comment on Haggard's return.

Haggard was fired as pastor of the 14,000-member church he founded in November 2006 after a former male prostitute alleged they had a cash-for-sex relationship.

Haggard, who also stepped down as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, confessed to undisclosed "sexual immorality" and said he bought meth but didn't use it.

Haggard then moved to Phoenix with his family to begin what church leaders called a spiritual restoration program which was expected to include counseling and prayer and last five years or longer. In February, New Life said that the process had ended prematurely.

Haggard previously was criticized by church overseers in August 2007 when he sent an e-mail to a Colorado Springs television station outlining his plans to work as a counselor at a Christian-run halfway house in Phoenix. The e-mail also solicited financial support.

A four-pastor team of overseers said those plans were unacceptable and said Haggard would seek secular employment instead.