K. C. Tebbs - Some Serious Allegations
More details emerged today about the K. C. Tebbs real estate related ponzi scheme. As you may recall, it was reported that Tebbs is being sued by jilted investors for failing to deliver on high promised returns.
Tebbs is not yet facing criminal charges, but details revealed today by KSL show Tebbs falsified real estate documents to help pull off his schemes. Over 100 people have lost money for real estate investments through Tebbs.
Like dozens of others, Merkley’s cash was supposed to buy residential lots in booming areas of the Salt Lake Valley. He thought his investment was safe when he got deeds of trust for the properties.
But when Merkley tried to verify the deeds, his heart sank. We found out why when we took two of his deeds to the
Salt Lake County recorder, where they track property ownership. All it took was a quick computer check.
Salt Lake County recorder Gary Ott told us the deeds were, “…way fake. There’s a multitude of things that are wrong here, but there’s some blatant thing here, like the wrong type of document for what was recorded for this transaction.”
Turns out, the documents Merkely got don’t even match what’s on file. A lot numbers are different and dates and recording codes are off. The properties Merkley thought he owned officially belong to other people.
Ott concluded the documents were cut, pasted, and copied. “This document was manufactured outside this office after we put a stamp on another document,” he said.The injured party mentioned in the article, Ray Merkely, has filed formal complaints against Tebbs which will bring law enforcement into the picture. Both Tebbs insurance and mortgage licenses lapsed several years ago. KSL reports the FBI is now investigating.
It’s become apparent that K. C. Tebbs was much more crafty in pulling off this scam and it would have been more difficult for his victims to protect themselves than I originally thought. Still, when it comes to investing, the old adage, “if it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” should remain top of mind.