Illegitimate Real Estate Deal
Covering the illegitimate and illegal real estate deal of the Fire Chief.
At this point stating that our had grown up knowing my former neighbor, Mr. William Earl Dayton, all of my life, would be an exercise in futile redundancy. He owned several properties in the county, one with his house and sixty acres, another comprising of around 36 acres of timber wood that ran parallel to ours down the county road, and a third that was his late wife’s located in town. For the entirety of our life, we referred to him by his last name, “Dayton”, which had remained synonymous with “being a good neighbor”. We grew up watching go back and forth from home to work each day, watching as every once in a while he would stop and talk to our grandfather while the two shared stories and talked about life. Whenever we asked about him, the answer was always the same, “He is a nice guy, and a good neighbor.” This would then be followed by a “leave him alone” or a “Don’t bother him.” Which was good enough, and it we needed to know.
The last time we talked with our late neighbor, we were inquiring if he would be willing to sell us some old scaffolding that was left on his property across the street by Mr. Matheson. There were several projects we needed it for, and it was the only way we knew of acquiring scaffolding at a price we could afford. We were not looking to get anything for free, and would have happily paid for it. Five days later, we received back the letter we had written him, and on the back a response was written by hand, it read “Take whatever of mine you need.” Which we thought was very kind and generous of him. We were pretty nervous about writing him, as this was the first time we had talked to him since the passing of our grandfather, and it was also the first time we had asked anything of him.
In order to get the scaffolding, we had to first locate it, which took some time, but once located we began the process of breaking it down into pieces we could carry. This, unfortunately, was more involved than we had planned for, and because it required tools that we had not brought with us. So, we did what we could, which wasn’t much, and carried home what we could, which again wasn’t much and planned to return when the temperatures were cooler.
Before we could return back across the street to move the scaffolding off the property, we encountered an armed Shane Tyler carrying a holstered Glock pistol. At the time we didn’t realize Shane was lying to us, when he claimed that Dayton was merely getting tired of keeping up his property in the countryside. Which made the situation sound differently than what it really was. He then related that the Fire Chief, Doug Matthews, was “managing” the sale of the property, and agreed to show it too him. We related how we had wanted to purchase the property directly across the road from our house for almost ten years, but never were sure if Dayton was still interested in selling it. He then told me that we needed to talk to Doug about it. Which was odd, because Doug didn’t own it, wasn’t even related to the Daytons, and had no licensing that allowed him to “manage” any form of real estate sale. Truth be told, the involvement of Doug in the dealings of someone else’s property, especially in a so claimed “managerial” role, raised all sorts of red flags. Since our family had known Dayton since before his birth, it was felt we needed to inquire with Dayton himself about what is going on, because it all sounded screwy, and it was. Whoever this Shane fellow was, he was going to tell Doug about running into us anyways, so one way or another Doug would know about our desire to purchase the property, and once we were sure it was all clear with the actual property owner, there was no reason to fool with him.
When another neighbor lost her cat, she ventured over to the property Dayton’s house was on looking for it. None of us had seen him in a while, but knew he was a good guy, and would not mind the intrusion for a lost pet. Her particular house is positioned to where she can see his front door from her back porch, she had not seen any sign of anyone at the house in quite a long time, and believed her expedition would be unnoticed. This is when she was granted a surprise to find practically a stranger at the house, it was the county’s Fire Chief Doug Matthews, who came out to great her. For some reason never fully explained in her account of the event, Chief Matthews was searching for a way of explaining to her what he was doing at Dayton’s house. He claimed that Dayton and him had a “Special relationship”, and that Dayton had agreed to let him live out there rent and utility free before he purchased it while he renovated the house.
This event was another instance of witnessing hundreds of red flags going up into the air, because making claims of permissibility based on an assumed close relationship are hard to verify and appropriately authenticate. This is because these types of claims are quite often easy to fabricate and often involve the use of hearsay evidence to reinforce supportive claims. The closest way we have to verify such claims is by the provision of a very detail specific, carefully written, and legally binding contract between the two parties involved. This contract would need to lay out the exact responsibilities, duties, and obligations of each party, and what each party would receive in return for fulfilling those obligations and duties. Without the existence of such a formal documented agreement, the claims made regarding possession of permission lie in the realm of speculation. Naturally, the existence of such document is highly doubtful, as it would clearly identify Chief Matthews intent to practice real estate without a license for property he did not own.
It was somewhere around this time the son of one our closest family friends had lied to us when he claimed he did not know what was going on with Dayton’s properties and he knew nothing about what had happened to Dayton. We knew he was not truthful, because he was Dayton’s next door neighbor on the opposite side, and he was the realtor listing the other property owned by Dayton in town at the time. In real estate terms, the intent to mislead someone over the availability of a property is referred to as a breach of fiduciary duty 1, and it alone can cause realtors to lose their licenses, but unfortunately his involvement was deeper than this. In order for real estate agents to list a property they often require an listing agreement between the client (seller) and themselves (a representative of the real estate brokering firm). So, either Dayton himself of someone with power of attorney would have had to meet with him and sign the listing agreement. So, he obviously aware of what was going on. Why it was decided Doug would broker the other property is not known, but as a licensed realtor, entering into such an agreement undermines the principle of loyalty between real estate agent and broker. Furthermore, as representatives of the state realtors association, realtors are obligated to report unlawful acts that could potentially damage the integrity of the profession. 2
Contacting Dayton was an unforeseen obstacle, as what ever had happened to him was still a mystery, and obviously one that was being kept as to prevent anyone from finding out. We never knew his cellular number, as we have never needed it, and obviously writing him again at the same address would not be productive since Doug was squatting there. So, the there were only two possible options left, one was to hunt down one of Dayton’s sons and inquire about the situation, and the other was to try to reach him at the address of his house in town. At the time, we still were still holding onto the fabricated and false idea given to us by Shane, which was Dayton was merely “tired” of living out in the country. So, believing the house in town was where Dayton was or would be residing, we resolved ourselves to attempt to make contact with him there.
Enough had happened to us, where we had little faith in achieving success with contacting Dayton, and after a fierce bout of procrastination we finally gathered ourselves enough to act on it. So, in a fit of self determination we forced ourselves to write a very poorly written letter inquiring about sale of the property. One week passed, and then another, which was not at all like the Dayton we knew, who was a former fighter pilot and shrewd businessman. Dayton was prompt and orderly, he had to be in order to be successful. It was unlike him to ignore us, and we had already begun to suspect everything regarding what was happening. So, we wrote him again, and by the time two more weeks had passed, we had begun to see how things were manifest. Everything was being manipulated in order to defraud us of knowing what was occurring in our own community to land that resided directly across the road from us, by individuals who moved into the neighborhood nearly thirty years after us. In every meaning of the word, it was a sham.
Also, as a minor caveat, take into consideration this occurred during the first big wave of the epidemic, and during that time the CDC policy being enforced in hospitals throughout the nation was to place individuals who contracted covid in mandatory quarantine and when necessary place them on ventilators. This is important, because after our family had been thoroughly screwed over and our neighborhood destroyed, we were informed by Chief Matthews himself that he had known the entire time Dayton was hospitalized due to contracting covid, which was obviously kept from us. He also inferred to having knowledge about the contents of the private letters we had written Dayton without a response, and of the privileged information regarding about how our home was raided over false allegations, that he more than likely made. So, if Dayton was hospitalized in the fall during the first wave of the epidemic, then probabilities favored Dayton was quarantined from the outside world and connected to a ventilator. Which means the probability of Doug having his consent for all he was doing is remarkably low.
So, who was giving Doug permission to “manage” the dissolution of Dayton’s real estate holdings? It took some digging to come up with a potential answer, but probabilities were it was Dayton’s youngest son, Matthew. Who residence was listed as being the property Dayton owned in town. So, now it all began to come together. All this time when we were writing Dayton, his son was tampering with the mail. What it sounds like is, Matt was opening the letters, telling Doug about what was inside of them, and then throwing them in the trash. An indicator of this was when we finally did get around to contacting Dayton’s oldest son, who was less than cordial, but who stated he had nothing to do with his father’s estate and had no knowledge of our numerous attempts to contact his father. So, considering how information was discovered suggesting Matt was doing business under his father’s name, it was safe to assume, Matt was the member of the family who is actively working with and assisting Doug.
The tragedy is, over the years our family had shown nothing but love and kindness to Matt and his father. The only thing Matt has to hold against us, is the trash that must have come out from Doug’s mouth, because Matt knew what he was doing would hurt us. He can’t deny that.
The point of relating all of this is to confront claims of legitimacy regarding both Shane’s and Doug’s acquisition of the property. If we had been more aware that we were getting cheated and being lied to, and if we were more knowledgeable of state laws and the statute of limitations regarding brokering real estate unlawfully, we probably could have done something about it. Although, now, their ownership of the property is unquestionable, the means by which they acquired ownership by crookery is unscrupulous and illegitimate by comparison of normal means. After all, when you ask someone how they acquired their house, and they respond, ‘oh, I made an underhanded deal to cheat the neighbor out of purchasing it, and then tried to run him off his own land.’ Anyone with a modicum of decency would refrain themselves from referring to it as a legitimate acquisition.
Debatably, the nature by which both properties were acquired, and the intent to manipulate or mislead others in order to prevent or prohibit them from protecting their own personal property and investments, should have some impact on the legal aspects of our case. As our legal system is designed in order to prevent individuals from profiting from illegal activities and fraudulent intentions, and not profit from unmoral acts of deception and theft.