The real estate blog.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Eagle Mountain mayoral candidate Richard Culbertson. If you recall, Culbertson was investigated by the Division of Real Estate and punished by having his real estate license revoked, having a fine levied of $40,000 and having his case turned over to law enforcement.

Since then, new details have emerged about the case. For instance, the specifics of what Culbertson was accused of were revealed. Political challengers of Culbertson have been particularly diligent in finding information about him. The facts of the fraud case Culbertson admitted to were revealed here -

Using a straw buyer to buy 3 houses (paragraphs 9 & 10)
Falsely claims that the straw buyer would occupy the house he is currently living in (paragraph 11)
Forged signatures on multiple documents (paragraph 12 & 16)


Falsifying income statements (paragraph 13)
Inflated property values to barrow (sic) money above the property value (paragraph 14)
Used multiple Limited Liability Companies (LLC) in a “scheme to conceal” the terms of the contracts (paragraph 15)
Making “substantial misrepresentation” and “pursuing a continued and flagrant course of misrepresentation”, “making false promises” and “loan fraud” (paragraph 17)

Despite admitting fault to these charges, Culbertson’s public statement said -

Culbertson went on to say he believed his real estate transactions were “completely legal and ethical at the time.

It’s one thing to discuss terms like “straw buyer.” Labels really depersonalize the victims of mortgage fraud schemes. Today it was revealed who Culbertson’s straw buyer was - his own son-in-law. Richard Culbertson defrauded his own daughter’s family.

Barnum’s credit score was always high, until his father-in-law, Richard Culbertson, asked him and his wife to use their good credit to put Culbertson’s house in their name. “Ashley said that sounded fine because it does, ‘It sounds fine; we’ll help out dad,’” Barnum explained.

Soon that one house turned into more. “He said, ‘We have these investment homes that we’ve purchased in your name,’” Barnum said.

Barnum’s father-in-law explained they would fix up the homes and then resell them, but after three months no work had been done, and red flags were going up. “Then they would buy these homes and shuffle them,” Barnum explained, “Take it out of my name, without me knowing, and sell it to someone.”

Later, Barnum found out Culbertson had forged his signature, lied on loan documents, and purchased the homes at inflated values to skim off money. “What I’m really not happy about is my wife, it’s her dad,” Barnum said.

Further Culbertson’s political opponents have presented other evidence of his questionable character including three bankruptcies, law license suspension and numerous lawsuits against him.

While Culbertson has had his real estate license revoked, he still possesses a law license and is still running for Mayor of Eagle Mountain. Personally, I find the whole situation disgusting. Richard Culbertson has a terrible history. Eagle Mountain’s brief mayoral office has a terrible history -

Former mayor Kelvin Bailey resigned in June 2005, a year after he pleaded no contest to providing false information to police over his faking his own kidnapping. His successor, Brian Olsen, resigned in 2006 after being charged with misusing public funds; he faces seven felony counts in 4th District Court. Councilwoman Linn Strouse — who served as mayor pro tem for two months following Olsen’s resignation — was charged in September with a second degree felony. She’s accused of accepting a $10,000 gift from a local land developer.

I would suggest Richard Culbertson do the honorable thing and resign his candidacy, but Culbertson’s history suggests there isn’t a bit of honor in him. I hope law enforcement goes after Richard Culbertson and he loses his legal license as well as his real estate license. Further, I hope he is soundly defeated in Tuesday’s election.

Meanwhile his daughter’s family is facing bankruptcy because Richard Culbertson exercised his influence and deceived his own family.

In addition to strained family relations, Barnum’s bad credit means getting a loan is impossible. “I need a new car, I need to finish school,” he said. “I can’t get a car. I can’t get a school loan.”

Now he has numerous large homes in his name that he can’t afford. “We didn’t know they were close to foreclosure. We thought payments were being made,” Barnum said.