Financially Strapped Real Estate Operators Charged With Torching Their $1M Home; Roof Collapse Nearly Kills Firefighters

In Tracy, California, the Tracy Press reports:

• A husband and wife are suspected of burning down their $1 million home in Tracy last summer — a blaze that almost killed several firefighters. Police [...] arrested 31-year-old William “Billy” Tipton Jr. and issued an arrest warrant for his wife, 37-year-old Frayba Tipton, on suspicion of arson, forgery and insurance fraud. Billy Tipton faces additional charges of grand theft and two more counts of defrauding an insurance company. [...] Not only did the fire destroy many of the family’s possessions, it also nearly killed several firefighters when it weakened the beams supporting a heavy slate roof that collapsed just 30 seconds after a fire chief ordered his crew out of the burning house.

***

• Billy Tipton — who used to own a branch of West Coast Realty and Mortgage in Tracy without a real estate or broker’s license — was taken into custody Friday night. [...] Frayba Tipton — owner of A+ Realty and Mortgage — is free of her own recognizance, but was ordered to appear in court with her husband on Thursday.

• The charges filed against the pair come as no surprise to several people who knew them. For the past few years, an architect, a graphic designer, several banks and at least two insurance companies were looking for the Tracy family for either money or an explanation. Public record paints a picture of a couple so dependent on the housing market that they lost virtually all of their property wealth when the economy tanked. They let several properties lapse into foreclosure as their income as real estate agents and brokers suffered from a dearth of buyers. Lawsuits demanding payment from Frayba and Billy Tipton show that the couple has had trouble keeping up with the bills for the past year or so.

For more, see Husband and wife suspected of Fagin Drive arson.