POLSON – A drifter is facing charges that he tried to steal foreclosed houses in Montana by filing bizarre paperwork with a county claiming he owned the homes.
Investigators said Brent Arthur Wilson was living in one house and collecting rent on another in a scheme unraveled by a real estate agent in Polson.
“This is new for us, dealing with someone stealing houses,” said Lake County Sheriff’s Detective Rick Lenz.
Wilson was scheduled to appear Thursday in District Court to be arraigned on felony charges of theft, deceptive practices and tampering with public records or information along with misdemeanor charges of criminal mischief and false swearing.
The investigation was ongoing.
Investigators said real estate agent Ed McCurdy was driving to Dayton on Aug. 13 to check on another property when he noticed the signs he had placed on a new listing were missing.
He went back to the $300,000 log home and found his key to the front door no longer worked. A small sign was taped to the window. He called the number on the sign, which had a Broward County, Fla., area code, and left a message.
Later that day, he tried the number again and eventually left a message warning the person: “I will call this number every five minutes until you call me back.”
Instead, someone called McCurdy’s supervisor, accused McCurdy of threatening him and said he would obtain a restraining order.
McCurdy said he told the broker: “I think somebody stole this house.”
McCurdy went to the clerk and recorder’s office, where he found strange documents filed in relation to the property.
One read, in part: “Witnesseth that the trustee, for a valuable consideration paid by the trustee to the creator, Yahweh, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, has and by these presents does grant and convey stewardship …”
The description begins with the “third planet from the sun” and ends with the tract book information on the property.
McCurdy said he learned the clerk and recorder’s office can’t stop anybody from recording anything.
McCurdy learned a pickup truck seen at the house was registered to a Polson woman who had loaned it to her neighbor.
McCurdy said the woman told him she bought a house with a lake view from a man and her daughter was living there.
“He made her such a deal she couldn’t resist,” McCurdy said. “She put her daughter in it and made some payments on it, but decided she couldn’t afford two houses, and deeded the house back to him, even though he’d never owned it in the first place.”
McCurdy said the woman told him her daughter had remained in the house and the man was collecting rent from her.
McCurdy took the information to the sheriff’s office.
A felony arrest warrant was obtained for Wilson on Sept. 4, but by then he had left town. He was pulled over on a traffic violation in California on Sept. 15, but fought extradition and wasn’t returned to Lake County until Jan. 31.