HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL -
Carlos Noguiera's home in Plant City was crumbling and financially underwater last August when Noguiera found out he was facing foreclosure. "I would have been able to make the payments but the house would have fallen on top of me," said Noguiera.
Noguiera worried his credit would plummet. He suffers from lung disease and was concerned that no nursing home would accept him if the bank foreclosed. "I'm not going to be able to get in anywhere's," said Noguiera.
Just days after the foreclosure suit filing, real estate saleswoman Sunnie Finkle sent him a letter full of hope. "I have some great news," wrote Finkle. "I have a cash investor who wants to buy your house. Do not file bankruptcy!" But six months later that buyer failed to materialize. "I haven't even seen him or heard anything from him," said Noguiera"
It turns out the so-called buyer Finkle had lined up was a company run by her boyfriend at the time, a bail bondsman named G.T. Wilson. "Our goal is to make sure they are able to sell their house," said Wilson.
But an Eight On Your Side news investigation found out Wilson never actually buys any houses in the deals Finkle negotiates. Wilson said the 67-page contract package Finkle convinces distressed homeowners to sign says he doesn't have to. "I'm a respectable business person," said Wilson. "We disclose everything 100 percent. It is not my intention to defraud anybody."
What does happen much to the shock of Noguiera and other homeowners facing foreclosure in Pasco, Hillsborough and Polk counties is that the power of attorney Finkle has them sign lets Wilson rent out their homes to tenants and keep the proceeds. Noguiera says he was surprised to learn a renter was living in his house during the foreclosure process and said he never received any of the proceeds. "Not a penny," said Noguiera.
Finkle said the rental deals were all Wilson's doing, not hers. "Talk to G.T. Wilson, that's his game," said Finkle. Well, the game's over now. Noguiera's lender reclaimed his home for $100 in a foreclosure sale a few weeks ago and Noguiera now believes his credit has tanked, just like he feared it would.
"How am I going to get a place to rent with my credit the way it is," Noguiera said. G.T. Wilson--the investor Finkle told Noguiera said she had lined up last August-- never put in a bid, not even for a penny of the rent money he collected before the bank moved in to reclaim Nogueira's home.
Wilson is the subject of an ongoing fraud investigation in Pasco County involving a similar deal in that county initiated by Finkle. Noguiera said he tried to file a fraud complaint about his dealings with Finkle and Wilson in Plant City with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office but eventually gave up after getting the runaround.
Noguiera said knowing what he knows now he would never have signed his name on the contracts Finkle put in front of him for the proposed short sale of his Plant City home. "No, no way," said Noguiera.
G.T. Wilson II
David and Wendy Wein
Don Roderick
Peggy Vieira
Sunnie Finkle and bail bondsman G.T. Wilson II
