SW Florida Man Accused Of Pocketing Cash At Real Estate Closings In Exchange For Seller-Held Promissory Notes, Then Stiffing Sellers With Hot Checks

In Collier County, Florida, the Naples Daily News reports:

• After he was charged with felonies relating to alleged shady real estate practices twice in a week’s time, it appears that things may still get worse for Douglas Lee Carter. [...] Carter, 63, 1100 Dana Court, Marco Island, who was charged [...] on July 16, with three counts of obtaining goods and services with worthless checks totaling more than $10,000, was charged [July 22] with another felony, obtaining property by fraud in excess of $50,000.

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• Detectives with the Sheriff’s Office allege the following, according to the release: “Carter purchased six homes in Collier from the three victims. Using the down real estate market as leverage, detectives say Carter asked the victims to provide him cash as closing to finance other deals. In exchange for their money, he issued them second and third mortgages.” The release goes on to say that Carter told the victims that he needed the money to purchase other properties and promised them interest, adding that his only attempts to pay were in the form of worthless checks, totaling $680,000.

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• In 2007, he was involved in a number of real estate deals on Marco Island that led to a 31-person indictment.(1)

For the story, see More charges of real estate fraud added to Marco man's rap sheet.

(1) According to a July, 17, 2009 story (see Marco Island man jailed amid charges of bad deals, broken promises), Carter was allegedly the man behind the real estate deals on that prompted a 2007 indictment involving 31 people — homeowners, mortgage companies, appraisers, real estate agents, bankers and “straw buyers” — who would artificially inflate home prices and then pocket the difference. Many of the homes went into foreclosure. The indictment reportedly contended they’d identify homeowners willing to overstate their home’s values and set them up with “straw buyers” who would allow their identities and credit to be used in exchange for a fee. The case resulted in numerous plea deals and sentences ranging from a low of two months in federal prison up to seven years, in addition to probation after release. Restitution for those bogus loans totaled $6.6 million.

Reportedly, these charges aren't Carter's only scrapes with the law. The Naples Daily News reports that he is currently on probation out of Georgia — seven years for interstate forgery, according to authorities. Since 1984, Carter has been involved in a laundry list of land deals, including mortgage foreclosures and judgments in excess of $30 million. He has been sued on numerous occasions, and was jailed in 1992 on federal marijuana dealing charges. He was released in 1996.