Recent Raids By Minnesota Feds Involve Suspected Realty Fraud First Reported By County Property Appraiser 3+ Years Ago; 145 Properties Implicated

In Beltrami County, Minnesota, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:

• In August 2004, a source in the Bemidji real estate industry complained to the FBI about a real estate agent who appeared to be engaging in fraudulent deals involving rental properties. But federal agent John Egelhof said he was too busy to pursue it at the time. So were the Minnesota departments of Revenue and Commerce.

• Duane Ebbighausen, the Beltrami county assessor, said he notified those agencies in 2004 of a pattern of suspected frauds so extensive that they actually raised the assessed values of properties in Beltrami County. The deals involved real estate agent Edward Detwiler and his associates. Even so, no investigation took place for more than three years -- until Mary Bettelyoun of Frazee called Egelhof in December.

• Bettelyoun charged that Detwiler had tricked her disabled father, Alvin Bettlelyoun, and her mother, Vonnie Rose, into buying a decrepit home. On March 26, FBI agents raided Detwiler's former sales office, Realty Executives -- the Producer Group, seeking records on nearly 150 property transactions. Agents also searched Trust Mortgage and Action Appraisal, two separate entities with offices at the same address.

For more, see FBI raids in Bemidji focus on alleged realty fraud.