Fraud claimed in home deals

Several Shelbyville families in Greystone subdivision off Nashville Dirt Road, near North Main Street, are suddenly faced with losing the roofs over their heads -- even though they have been making their house payments on time.

The families claim they have been victimized by several individuals from Murfreesboro who are purchasing properties from American Value Homes and setting up two-year leases with purchase option agreements.

They claim they were led to believe that the money they were paying was going toward the purchase price of their homes. But instead, the money was apparently not paid to the finance companies and the homes that the families are living in are now being placed in foreclosure and auctioned off by banks.

What makes matters worse for the families is that they say none were ever informed about the foreclosures. They only learned of their situation when auction notices were published by the Times-Gazette, or when the bank told the occupants they had seven days to get out.

A representative with the Bedford County Board of Realtors stressed that none of its members were involved in the transactions and no Realtor in the county had any involvement with the purchase or circumstances surrounding these homes.

Repeated attempts to reach the individuals accused in the matter for comment were unsuccessful by press time.

Tim Krieg of 302 Christopher Court said he bought his home from Jonathan and Stephanie Henderson of Murfreesboro with a two year lease/option to buy and 10 percent of the payments going toward the down payment.

However, on New Year's Eve, Krieg read in the T-G's classifieds that his house was under foreclosure. He would have been in the home for two years this April.

Krieg was making weekly payments of $250 for the home, sometimes $1,250 a month with a $500 security deposit. But with the foreclosure, Krieg says he's losing the 10 percent down payment and the rest of the money he has put into it.

And evidently, it's the same story for five of Krieg's neighbors. Krieg said when Henderson purchased the properties from American Value Homes, each home was placed with a different mortgage company.

Krieg said after he found out he was being foreclosed on, Henderson came by to collect the house payments the next week. "When were you going to tell me?" Krieg asked.

"Tell you what?" Henderson allegedly told Krieg.

All these homes are being foreclosed on, Krieg said. He claims that Henderson replied that "it was strictly business, it wasn't personal."

"When it comes to my four kids and having to move them out, and losing all my money, that's pretty personal," Krieg said.

Tim then got in touch with his neighbors, Greg and Alisa Ervin at 304 Christopher Court, to tell them about the situation, which they say they had no knowledge of.

Alisa said around Christmas time, Henderson had offered the Ervins "a deal" and kept coming by for the payments. When the foreclosure was later discovered, Alisa asked Henderson when he had planned to tell them about the matter of the foreclosure. Henderson allegedly replied that he could sell the house if he wanted to, Ervin said.

The Ervins have already paid some $25,000 to Henderson for the home and Alisa says she never missed a payment. They would have been in the home for two years this April, Alisa says.

Terry Pilkington of 306 Christopher Court tells the same story. They were told about the lease/option to buy from Krieg, who is a relative, and have paid over $20,000 to Henderson for the house. Not only have they paid on time, the Pilkingtons have made several improvements to the property since they've lived there.

"We thought it was going to be ours," Terry said, but then they began learning that things might not be what they seemed.

The Pilkingtons had previously lived at 308 Christopher Court, which her daughter and new husband moved into. But when they learned that that home was being foreclosed on, it dawned on Terry that they were all facing the same fate.

All of the neighbors claim that Henderson has been taking their money, but not making their payments to the mortgage companies.

Holly Hecathorn on Southwood Lane has already been foreclosed on, but she dealt with two other people: Molly Worrall and Tom McMamahan of Murfreesboro, who also bought the property from American Value Homes. She tells an identical tale - she was making her house payments on time, yet was foreclosed on and the home went up for auction on Dec. 6.

"We had a bank come over and offer us a deal." Holly said. "They told us that they wanted us to leave before Christmas." They learned of the foreclosure through a classified notice in the T-G and were not contacted about the matter.

But all other neighbors agreed on one point: The banks which are foreclosing assumed the owners of the homes -- Henderson, Worrall and McMamahan -- to be living at these addresses, because every foreclosure notice bears their names.

The deeds of trust state that after 60 days of purchase, the buyer, which in many cases is Henderson, has to live in the house for a year before he or she can sublease or rent the homes out.

Krieg said that when mail addressed to Henderson was delivered to the Greystone subdivision addresses, he was asked to forward the mail to him. Krieg said he found that situation fishy because mail is typically forwarded to a new address by the Postal Service.

When Holly confronted Worrall and McMamahan about the foreclosure notice, they claimed it was a mistake in the newspaper. But then when the bank representative showed up, he asked if Holly was Molly Worrell.

Holly replied that if she were Molly Worrell, "then so was everyone else on the street," because Worrell's mail comes to every house. While Worrell's name is on the paperwork, and money orders had to be made out to Worrell, it was McMamahan to whom the residents were making their payments each period.

"We have all this paperwork that says this is our home," Holly said. "Turns out, it's not."

The foreclosure notices for the Ervins and the Pilkingtons both originated from the law offices of McCurdy & Candler LLC of Decatur, Ga., even though they were making their payments to two separate people - Henderson and Worrell.

Andrew Andreason of 414 Quarry St. says he has gone through the same experience, but with yet another individual, Jason Neal. The difference is that the home Andrew moved into was already being foreclosed on when he moved into it at the end of October 2007.

"I had no knowledge whatsoever of foreclosure on there. I made a down payment and have been paying monthly payments," he said. While he is one month behind on his payments, Andreason said that Neal was not in a rush for the money.

"I've been sent an auction notice for this month and he says, 'If you don't pay me the month's rent, you're going to have to leave,' but I haven't even been given a 30-day notice from him," Andrew said. "The foreclosure and the auction aren't even from him, it's from the bank."

Tommy Hay of Shelbyville is giving these neighbors a hand. A retired real estate agent, he has been in touch with law enforcement, the District Attorney's office, and the state real estate commission about what has happened to these families.

Hay is hoping that an attorney can file criminal charges against the individuals for putting the families through the ordeal. Krieg added that attorney John Norton has agreed to take the case pro bono.

"This doesn't even scratch the surface," Hay said. "There are many, many more" in the same situation, he and the Greystone neighbors said.