Utah Jury Convicts Real Estate Agent Of Flipping (Thru Simultaneous Closings) Purportedly Buildable Home Sites To Unwitting Buyers Without Disclosing Lots Weren't Eligible For Building Permits; Unable To Convert Construction Loans Into Permanent Financing, Some Victims Ended Up In Foreclosure

In Salt Lake City, Utah, The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

• A jury on Friday found a real estate agent guilty of defrauding lot buyers by not disclosing an ownership interest and that water facilities had not been completed, meaning building permits wouldn't be available.
  
  Kimberly Bowen, 51, was found guilty of five counts of communication fraud and one count of engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity, all second-degree felonies punishable by up to 15 years in prison each.
  
  Bowen wept as the jury of five women and three men were polled by 3rd District Judge Randall Skanchy, who presided over the two-week trial.
  
  Sentencing was set for March 1.
  
  Bowen sold lots in 2007 at the Fox Hollow subdivision of developer Richard Wolper — a star witness for the Utah Attorney General's Office, which prosecuted the case. Bowen was convicted for failing to tell buyers that she had an ownership interest in the company selling the lots — a contention hotly disputed by the defense — and for not informing buyers that there was no water available at the lots and that they weren't eligible for building permits.
  
  Without building permits, owners weren't able to build homes and convert construction loans into long-term financing. Many ended up in foreclosure.
  
  But it was Wolper's role in the water debacle and his failure to complete the water system that was very much in dispute at the trial. During contentious testimony that drew the ire of Skanchy, Wolper claimed he informed Bowen and others who worked with her that there was no water at the lots and that buyers had the obligation to ensure the lots were viable for building.
  
  Skanchy at one point said he was close to declaring Wolper in contempt. Then later, with the jury gone from the courtroom, the judge said it was "unbelievable" the attorney general's office had not pursued Wolper as a suspect.
  
  Defense attorney Chris Bown also had produced documents showing Wolper had failed to complete the water system as his contract with the city required. Wolper himself had not disclosed that water was not available and that building permits would not be forthcoming, the documents showed.
  
  After the verdict, Bown said the defense planned to appeal.
  
  "While respecting the jury and the process, we are dismayed that Kim Bowen and other co-defendants have been the only ones prosecuted over these seven years by the attorney general's office," he said, referring to the length of the case. "Our pursuit of justice does not end with today's verdict."
  
  Assistant Attorney General Denise Dalton, the prosecutor, spent much of her time during the trial on evidence that she said showed Bowen held an ownership interest in Empire Custom Homes and other entities involved in reselling lots purchased from Wolper. Dalton gave little effort to questions of who was responsible for disclosing the lack of water.
  
  "This is not a trial to convict Mr. Wolper or anyone else [besides Bowen]," Dalton said in closing arguments.
  
  Bown also said Saratoga Springs officials bore responsibility for allowing Wolper to record his subdivision, which allowed the sale of lots even though water wasn't available.
  
  Another defendant in the case, Sandy Chapple, reached a plea agreement and was sentenced in October 2014 to a year in jail. Chapple's husband, Allen Chapple, also pleaded guilty to several charges and was ordered to pay restitution of about $75,000.
  
  A fourth defendant, Clair (Chuck) Rulon Hawkins, was convicted of two counts of communications fraud and served three months in jail.
  
  The Utah Court of Appeals upheld Hawkins' conviction on Friday, but his attorney, Marcus Mumford, said he would appeal to the Utah Supreme Court.
  
  "In the case of Mr. Hawkins, we showed how Wolper had orchestrated the entire transaction as an illegal double-closing to enrich himself and his friends," said Mumford, who has filed a suit against Wolper on behalf of a lot buyer. "In the case of Ms. Bowen, the trial judge himself observed how the state was letting the real culprit lie on the stand and walk free, as he said, to finish the job of fleecing people."

For more, see Jury: Utah real estate agent guilty of defrauding subdivision lot buyers (Bowen is found guilty of failing to disclose ownership interest and unavailability of water in a Saratoga Springs subdivision).