(Photo Credit: Flickr, Bedford Jail Cell – Gloomy50)
“A real estate agent in Colorado Springs sent four children -two of them family friends — to exact her revenge on a client who passed on a lucrative contract nearly three years ago, police said. [This ReMax agent], is accused of supplying four 13-year-old boys with the vegetable oil and spray paint they used to cause $17,000 in damage to a home in Pine Creek, an upscale subdivision in … Colorado Springs.” Damage also included broken windows and vulgar gang-like signs spray painted on the home. (Read Full Story: Real Estate Agent Arrested in $17,000 in Damage)
Apparently, this real estate agent of 20 years was working with a couple back in 2005 who refused to sign a Buyer’ Agency and wound up buying a home with a different agent. Per the recent article, “Their business relationship ended … when [the agent] sent [the Buyers] a contract with language that other real estate agents called into question…” They didn’t trust her.
Mad that she “lost out” on about $27,000 in commissions, she (allegedly) lost her mind and turned to a life of crime … 3 years later!
She eventually turned herself into the Colorado Springs Police on May 2, 2008, after the neighbors of the vandalized home were being falsely accused for the damage.
The owners of the home now have a restraining order against this agent because, “If she is capable of doing this to our house three years later, then what else is she capable of?”
What is odd, besides the fact that she chose to do this 3 years later, is that this particular agent is not “starving” like a lot of other agents out there. She is rather successful. She has 17 active listings in highly desirable areas and does fairly well for herself … or so it appears. Now she will probably lose her license and face prison time for 2-Felony IV counts: Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor and Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Mischief.
I guess this is one way to weed out my local competition.
Chris Shouse
May 3, 2008 at 8:58 am
Wow I don’t think I have ever been that angry at a client. That is an amazing story.
Maureen Francis
May 3, 2008 at 9:02 am
Well, at least she fessed up and did not let someone else take the fall. The rest is amazing.
Mariana
May 3, 2008 at 9:07 am
Chris – It happens. A buyer jumps ship and all the time you spent with them can be “wasted” … but I mean, C’mon! Get over it …
Maureen – I am glad that she turned herself in, but I am shocked that she even did it to begin with.
Maureen Francis
May 3, 2008 at 9:12 am
She could have referred the buyer out after they told her they did not like the contract. Of course, slipping in a buyer’s agency contract after 8 months of working with a buyer is pretty ummmm … odd… to put it nicely.
Bill Lublin
May 3, 2008 at 9:50 am
Mariana; I thought the days of the Wild West were long gone, but this is about as wild as it gets…
What do you think was going through the hat rack she called a head when she planned this? That they would need to buy a new house instead of fixing up the old one and that she would have a second chance? I take it back this may not be a “Wild West” story – it must be “Fantasy” or “Horror”
Missy Caulk
May 3, 2008 at 9:57 am
Oh my………….this is unbelievable, what was she thinking. Revenge is a terrible thing, you have to let things in RE go and move on. What a shame, a ruined career, hope she gets help in anger management.
Chris Lengquist
May 3, 2008 at 10:23 am
LOL. If any business can make you snap this real estate business could. I’m gonna get a low stress job like air traffic controller, or something.
Mariana
May 3, 2008 at 10:32 am
Maureen – I am sure there is more to the story than we see right now.
Bill – Thriller… with a wierd twist.
Missy – I refuse to hold grudges … and this is a perfect reason why. SNAP!
Chris – Or Doctor … or a missionary in a 3rd world country.
John Lauber
May 3, 2008 at 10:46 am
Maybe her dog told her to do it :). Too bad for her team.
Like you said, Mariana. There has to be something more to this story. I hope.
Irina Netchaev
May 3, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Three years later AND to involve the kids. Wow… this woman has some mental issues. It’s a strange world we’re living in.
Lani Anglin-Rosales
May 3, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Why’d she have kids do the dirty work? Sure they’re free, but they’re tattle tales! 😉
Don’t y’all have a mafia there or something? Maybe you should start the CSREM (Colorado Springs Real Estate Mafia) so it’s intimidation and strong arming people… sounds about as logical as Crazy Lady’s actions, eh?
San Mateo Home Sellers in Trouble
May 3, 2008 at 3:01 pm
It’s kind of funny, and kind of sad. It makes Colorado seem like an unfriendly place.
Mariana
May 3, 2008 at 3:03 pm
John – I don’t even know what to say about it all. Apparently, 2 of the kids had just gotten in trouble for vandalizing something else in the area. I wonder what *really* happened.
Irina – People are strange …
Lani – CSREM … LOL!
Melina Tomson
May 3, 2008 at 7:29 pm
This has to be one of the saddest things I have read. A parent encouraging children to commit a crime. Just goes to show that when you think people are “successful” it goes to show that we need to redefine our definition of successful.
Mariana
May 3, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Melina – She was not a parent to any of the children – a friend of the family. Does not make it any better though.
Susan
May 3, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Whoa, this is really scary the act itself is very bad and the fact that it happened three years later compounds it in my mind. Its been eating at her all this time?!!! Was this the winning plan for revenge after many others that may have been put together and then tossed aside? Thats alot of wasted energy…she probably could’ve sold a few more houses.
Mariana
May 4, 2008 at 11:13 am
In my opinion, it is a lot of wasted time to harbor such anger toward a person.
Vicki Moore
May 4, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I hope it was worth it. Good grief.
BrokerBryant
May 4, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Mariana…..that’s incredible!!! Talk about losing your mind. I guess the stress was just too much. Hard to believe it took 3 years to finally lose it. Assuming of course there weren’t other things that went unnoticed and she just didn’t get caught for them.
Mariana
May 4, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Vicki – I highly doubt it was …
Blog Boy! Good point … I wonder if there WERE other things that happened that went unnoticed.
Glenn fm Naples
May 5, 2008 at 11:09 am
Can’t believe that someone would do something like that especially after three years. And people wonder why our young people have distorted values!!!
Mariana
May 5, 2008 at 11:25 am
Glenn – The whole thing is unbelievable.
Mariana Wagner
October 10, 2008 at 8:23 am
Update: This agent just pleaded guilty to four felony counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief. … https://www.gazette.com/articles/haddad_41709___article.html/four_boys.html