SUN GROVE RESORT VILLAGE'S MANAGEMENT COMPANY, SENIORITY INC., FRAUDULENT ACTIVITIES

THE FRAUDULENT ACTIVITIES OF SUN GROVE RESORT VILLAGE’S MANAGEMENT COMPANY SENIORITY, INC

(A WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF THE AMERICAN BAPTIST HOMES OF THE WEST – ABHOW AKA AS THE BAPTIST FOUNDATION)

When the 20 Sun Grove Resort Village Resort (SGRV) Investors/Owners originally invested their $4.1 million in May 2006 they purchased tenant-in common shares.  This was a form of property ownership that allowed them to use the 1032 tax-shelter and get tax free returns without a Deeded Ownership. The SGRV Investor/Owners were promised a tax free 8% to 12% annual return with a quick profitable sale of the property. The SGRV Investor/Owners were solicited by James Koenig, Gary Armitage, and Jeffery Guidi with their property investment company called Asset Real Estate and Investment Co. (AREI) to invest into the 28-year old/86-unit SGRV senior living property. The investors in the AREI/Oakdale Heights Ponzi scam were not told that James Koenig was a convicted felon for a gold Ponzi scam in the 80s and that he had been imprisoned because of his past criminal activities.   

The AREI PONZI scam started in Napa Valley California with elaborate presentations and dinners at the Napa Valley country club resorts there. Koenig, Armitage, and Guidi enticed the SGRV Investor/Owners with the potential of senior living facilities because of future needs of the 78 million American Baby Boomers. Also the 1032 tax-shelter opportunity provided a loop-hole that exempts taxes on the profits from the purchases of senior living facilities.

The Ponzi scam artists started Oakdale Heights Management Company (OHMC) which handled the daily operations of most of the 24 senior living facilities involved with the scam. OHMC, which was directly managed by James Koenig, also allowed the draining of all the assets of the senior living facilities. AREI/Oakdale Heights Management Co. bought the properties as bargains with cash and pulled out all the equity of the properties with 100% loan-to-value mortgages. The properties were drained of their operating cash and allowed to deteriorate due to poor maintenance. The cash poor senior living facilities were forced to do many questionable things in order to survive. Nearly half of the 24 senior living facilities closed before the AREI/Oakdale Heights Ponzi Scam collapsed in 2008. The OHMC properties have many large judgments against them in California and several OHMC employees have been jailed for theft and rape. Koenig, Armitage, and Guidi were jailed at that time for stealing $250 million from 2,000 investors. Guidi got a reduced sentence for testifying for the state, Armitage took the five-year plea-deal sentence, and the trial is now in process against Koenig.

The SGRV Investors/Owners got the Deeded Ownership of the SGRV Property in May 2008. The SGRV Investor/Owners had no interest or expertise in running a senior living facility and only want to recover their bad investment monies. I, Mark Fairall, met with the owners then because I was in charge of the SGRV Ambassadors’ Group. The SGRV Ambassadors’ Group consisted of five SGRV Residents who helped to resolve Residents’ complaints with SGRV management. Also, I assisted in stopping the foreclosure of Bank of America, my former employer. SGRV was four month past due on its mortgage payments and I was successful in obtaining a new workout mortgage loan that saved the SGRV property. The SGRV Investor/Owners hired Seniority, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Baptist Homes of the West (ABHOW) which is aka as the BAPTIST FOUNDATION) to manage SGRV.

ABHOW runs 43 retirement communities housing over 5,000 residents in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Washington. ABHOW is the largest provider of continuing care in the Western US and is the third largest in the Nation. ABHOW’s 2012 annual sales reports $111 billion in sales generating $1.19 billion profits on $520 billion of assets ($107 billion is in cash).  In January 2013 Fitch Ratings downgraded ABHOW’s revenue bond rating to BBB+ because profitability dropped from $3.99 billion in 2011 to the current 2012 profitability of $1.19 which was caused by increased debt from expansion. ABHOW’s President/CEO, David B. Ferguson stated in the 2012 annual report: “Their (ABHOW’s 1949 founders) vision lives on because ABHOW has taken the long view – always preparing for future opportunities while ensuring that our communities meet the highest standards today.”

Seniority, Inc. is a for-profit consulting firm that is wholly-owned by ABHOW. Seniority, Inc. was formed in 1997 to assist senior housing facilities with management expertise, marketing expertise, and daily operations oversight. Seniority Inc. management fee is 10% of the gross income which at that time was $15,000 a month.  The SGRV Investor/Owners hired Seniority Inc. in May 2008 and ended its relationship in December 2010. The ABHOW financial statement shows a decline in SGRV’s occupancy and staff from 2008 level of 99 residents/31 employees to the 2010 level of 81 residents/21 employees. That is a severe two and a half-year drop of 18% in residents and 32% in staff at SGRV. It has been reported that the troubled SGRV property continues to loose residents and there are less than 60 seniors living there. SGRV was in in extreme distress in May 2008 when the SGRV Investor/Owners took over the property and the SGRV property continued to decline (mismanagement, undercapitalization, lack of property repair/ maintenance, and illegal activities).  SGRV's senior residents declined from 105 in 2004 to the present 2012  level of 59 senior residents (a 44% decrease of residents in the past eight years) and is at about 50% of the senior apartment house's rental capacity. 

Scott Green had been at SGRV’s manager since December 2004. Scott Green worked for the Ponzi Scam management Company, Oakdale Heights, for over two years. Seniority Inc. hired SGRV’s manager, Scott Green, as their employee.  Scott Green abused and exploited seniors while he promoted SGRV with the false advertising that SGRV was a licensed assisted living facility with a nurse (that was all untrue). He was aided with the SGRV false advertising by SGRV's Marketing Director Carolyn Duncan. I volunteered teaching computer at SGRV near Carolyn Duncan's office. I overheard Carolyn Duncan constantly lie and tell prospective seniors residents that SGRV was a licensed assisted living facility with a nurse on duty all the time. When SGRV employees reported the illegal operations they were terminated as unwanted whistle blowers. We have the testimony of several SGRV whistle-blowers that Scott Green’s boss at Seniority, Inc., Chuck Major - Vice President of Seniority Inc., was fully knowledgeable and condoned Scott Green’s illegal activities. It was surprising that Seniority Inc. hired and supported Scott Green who made his living defrauding seniors since he was a 2005 Medicare Fraud felon.

In August 2009 I, Mark Fairall, decided to not to renew my lease and move when it expired in October 2009 so I informed Scott Green in writing and in person of my intentions. I asked for consideration for breaking another SGRV resident Carol Buck’s lease early since we were getting married. I really expected no problem with my request since I had saved SGRV from foreclosure. However, Scott Green delivered on 08/11/09 his SGRV Stipulations Demand Letter that demanded $4,640.00, that we faced trespassing charges if we entered the SGRV property, and that we would not complain to any officials about SGRV.

I contacted Scott Green’s boss at Seniority Inc., Chuck Major, on the phone and email informing him of Scott Green’s illegal activities and poor management. Chuck Major totally supported Scott Green and wrote his 08/25/09 letter on Seniority Inc. stationary informing my 94-year old aunt, Catherine Reinertson, that SGRV would not renew her lease and that she was bound to sign the SGRV Stipulations Demand Letter. We refused to sign the SGRV Stipulations Demand Letter and reported the problems at SGRV on 09/13/09 to HUD Fair Housing and the Arizona Attorney General. SGRV Owners, Scott Green, and Seniority Inc. Retaliated against us because of our formal complaints. We have emails from SGRV’s attorney, Scott E. Williams stating that SGRV spent a lot of money defending themselves against our complaints and that they intended to get even with us and they had the bucks to do it!

After we filed our 09/13/09 Formal Complaints we were retaliated with:

Withholding of Essential Services

1.   SGRV illegally charged $425 for Mark Fairall's licensed service dog, Wheeler, and refused to refund the monies. 
2.  SGRV refused to fix the broken air-conditioning unit in the Fairall/Reinertson SGRV apartment which forced Catherine Reinertson to move a month early because the 115% temperature inside the SGRV apartment which made the apartment unlivable.

3.  SGRV refused to fix a wire that was improperly placed in the window sill that made Carol’s apartment unlockable.

4.  SGRV refused the acceptance of the delivery of Carol’s medication to the SGRV front desk as was allowed by the SGRV Handbook and allowed in prior to 09/13/09.

5.  SGRV refused to fix the leaky moldy sink in Carol’s SGRV apartment. Carol had three major floods in her SGRV apartment which exposed us to the toxic mold behind the SGRV bathroom wall.

6.  SGRV refused Carol the usage of the SGRV guest apartment as allowed by SGRV policy when a SGRV apartment become unlivable.

Harassment

 1. SGRV and their attorney refused our written 09/29/09 Reasonable Accommodations Request for a Disabled Person and 10/8/09 attorney’s email to accept Carol’s medication delivery.

2. Carol had abusive letters delivered, nearly daily, which disturbed our Quiet Peace as required by law.

3. Carol received the 09/28/09 SGRV demanding $41,506.00 for the purposely misdated lease done by SGRV’s Marketing Director, Carolyn Duncan. Carol had brought the misdated lease error to Carolyn Duncan and she promised but failed to correct the misdated two year lease to the proper term of one year (SGRV never wrote two year leases). We have testimony from other SGRV residents that this was a common misdeed of SGRV’s Carolyn Duncan.

4.  SGRV refused to honor our Injunction of Harassment against SGRV employee, George Kieffer, and gave him a key to her SGRV apartment. 

5. SGRV even paid George Kieffer’s legal fees to fight our evictions lawsuit against him for the three months of  nonpayment of rent on the Fairall rental house.

6.  SGRV refused Carol’s October Rent Payment because they wanted to collect for incorrect over-charges.

7.  SGRV filed a baseless lawsuit because Carol moved because the SGRV was unlivable. SGRV has filed four baseless lawsuits against us and won $18,000 of wrongful judgments.

8.  SGRV filed a baseless lawsuit against Mark Fairall and Catherine Reinertson. Catherine Reinertson paid $3,000 to settle the lawsuit because Scott Green and Scott E. Williams threatened to jail the 94-year old senior. She died shortly afterwards a broken women who was forced to move from her SGRV apartment/ friends and because she was exploited for $3,000.00.

9.  Carol and I have faced constant terrorist harassment from SGRV, Scott Green, and Scott E. Williams for the past three and a half years.

10. Our three dogs died of liver cancer from being exposed to the SGRV toxic mold. Carol started rejecting her transplanted liver in September 2009 when she was exposed to the SGRV toxic mold.  Carol's liver rejection blood work in now eleven-times higher than normal which shows she is in the last stages of liver rejection. 

All these illegal SGRV activities were in progress against us in September and October 2009. At the same time Scott Green was being awarded the Seniority, Inc. Executive Director of the Year during the October 2009 conference in Las Vegas. The pictures are:

Scott Green - SGRV Executive Director - 2005 Medicare Fraud Felon
Sloan Bentley - Seniority, Inc. - President
Carolyn Duncan - SGRV Marketing Director - Green's Criminal Accomplice

Left - the 2005 Medicare Fraud Felon – Scott Green

Middle – Seniority Inc. President - Sloan Bentley

Right – Carolyn Duncan – SGRV’s Marketing Director

This picture shows the support given to the felon Scott Green for his criminal activities by Seniority, Inc. and the award he received for his elder abuse and senior financial exploitation at SGRV.

HUD Investigation Needed of ABHOW

ABHOW does not meet the highest standards as stated by its President David B. Ferguson in the 2012 annual report.

We have filed Formal Complaints against SGRV with the FBI, IC3, DOJ, Senator John McCain, and President Obama. We have asked for a HUD Systemic Investigation of ABHOW for:

1.    How many of the ABHOW senior living facilities are being managed by Felons?

2.  How many ABHOW senior living facilities use false advertising to market their facilities?

3.  How many ABHOW senior living facilities allow their residents with highly infectious diseases, such as MRSA and TB, to rent and endanger other residents? (This was a common practice of SGRV and it was documented in the 2008 SGRV Ambassador Group minutes.)