This One Document Summarizes The Ethics Of A Certain Type Of Northside Rental Property Owner...

(Public record, public domain)

GUEST POST BY CAMDEN CANARY

AHR Construction, Inc. might be the company where an aggravated forgery conviction, an unethical notarization, and an attorney with his hands in many, many jars meet. But even worse, AHR might have possibly artificially inflated the redemption price of a foreclosed-on property using a questionable “property insurance” line item to dissuade the owner from being able to redeem it back.

The above document has so many questionable and concerning attributes to it. You see, the owner of 1710 Fremont Ave N was foreclosed on in 2006, and AHR Construction, Inc. swooped in at auction to buy it up. Minnesota law provides the foreclosed-on owner an opportunity to redeem it back from the auction buyer for a certain period of time after, however. The above “Affidavit of Additional Amount on Redemption” asserts that the foreclosure buyer incurred the above costs, and if the previous owner wants the house back, they have to pay it...

...The document claims that IREP Risk & Casualty was paid $2,119 for property insurance. It makes sense that a new owner would want to protect the property with insurance coverage, but here's the thing: according to Minnesota Secretary of State records, IREP Risk & Casualty is an assumed name for Shoreview Investments, LLC, which is owned by Bradley Loch at his home address.

You'll notice that Bradley Loch's name is on the document: “This instrument was drafted by Bradley J. Loch, Attorney at Law.” I don't know too many attorneys who run property insurance companies out of their suburban residential ramblers, do you?

Now, I'm not making any accusations of illegality in this post. Perhaps through some nuance in law, Loch's company could have been considered a property insurance company. But it does lead me to wonder: did they just do this to inflate the redemption cost?!

I have no idea, but here's why I think they might have: Joseph Dixon was the former owner of the property, and he allegedly claimed (for unknown reasons) that the foreclosure itself was in some way challenged or challengeable. AHR petitioned in January 2006 to have the redemption period reduced from six months to five weeks based on their purported belief that the property had been abandoned.

It wasn't. Dixon was apparently still living there, and he sued:

“Plaintiff alleges that on January 10, 2006, and January 13, 2006, Defendant Roberto M. Rodriquez entered his home without permission. According to the complaint, Rodriquez entered Plaintiff’s home ‘by means of malicious destruction, vandalism, and illegal forced entry, by breaking down the secured house doors.’”

Wait a second! Roberto Rodriguez was the notary on the document above! He's notarizing documents and allegedly breaking down doors?

AHR wasn't necessarily acting in bad faith. They withdrew the petition, and after the redemption period Dixon was evicted. But could and would Dixon have redeemed the property without the added “property insurance” costs? We'll never know, but I'm keeping my eye out for these affidavits of additional amount on redemption documents.

Incidentally, IREP Risk & Casualty actually owns property in North Minneapolis: 3000 Knox Ave N. The taxpayer address on that property is P.O. Box 29596, Minneapolis, MN 55429, which is AHR's address on the document above. It's also used as a taxpayer address on 1622 Oliver Ave N, which is owned by the oh-so-troubling Proton Investments Inc. with listed taxpayer AHR Construction, Inc. We've come full circle, and then some.

The rental license contact for IREP's property at 3000 Knox is Roberto Rodriguez. The notary again! His “property insurance” company that for some reason owns a property in North Minneapolis uses him as a property manager?!

Roberto Rodriguez isn't just the notary on the document, though. He's also the owner of AHR Construction, Inc. according to state records. AHR Construction, Inc. was the buyer of the foreclosed house in the document above. But Roberto didn't execute the document, he notarized it.

Lourdes M. Rodriguez signed the document as “Vice President” of AHR Construction Inc. Lourdes is Roberto's wife, they both have a financial interest in the transaction, and I don't think Roberto should have notarized the document under any circumstances. Given that AHR is Roberto's company, I view it as being not much different than notarizing your own signature.

But should we really be surprised? I mean, look at Roberto's notary application:

(Public record, public domain)

Roberto Miguel Rodriguez was charged under his former name Jose Gaudencio Gomez back in 1989 with two counts of felony aggravated forgery and nine counts of false homestead declarations. And yet, he's a notary public. His wife changed her name from Eugenia Dora Gomez to Lourdes Rodriguez; she too was charged with filing a false tax statement.

The owner of the “insurance company” and the attorney drafting the document was Bradley Loch. He's not exactly a neutral party here. He's transferred title between himself personally to some of the companies involved here — I've been told he sold his property at 1721 Rollins Ave SE to Andrey Sokurec's Proton Investments.

Bradley Loch is also the registered agent for CTW Group, Inc., which owns or owned three properties in North Minneapolis: 3119 Russell Ave N, 3447 Lyndale Ave N, and 2812 Dupont Ave N.

And CTW's property 3447 Lyndale Ave N has listed rental license contact My Lam, who also has connections with Proton Investments. He was recently criminally charged in an alleged "scheme to defraud mortgage lenders," where buyers were purportedly getting paid an inflated amount of purchase prices outside of the formal closing. As reported by the Pioneer Press, “Lam was described as 'a facilitator' who acted as a go-between between the minority community and the Cloud 9 leadership, who all are white...” He was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay $2.4m in restitution.

And back to the property this started with — 1710 Fremont Ave N — at some point it was purportedly transferred to Andrey Sokurec, who sold it “for consideration less than $500” to Proton Investments.

If you'll recall, both IREP and Proton use P.O. Box 29596, but so does a company named First Equity Group, LLC. Roberto listed this company as his employer in his notary application:

(Public record, public domain)

And First Equity Group's corporate organizers were filed as:

(Public record, public domain)

Andrey Sokurec, or as curiously misspelled here as Andrey Sokurek, strikes again!

As always, North Minneapolis rental property owners weave a big, messy web of trouble... but I have a big broom.

AHR Construction, Inc.
1622 Oliver Ave N
1615 Newton Ave N
3551 Newton Ave N
1620 26th Ave N
1925 Sheridan Ave N
2442 Irving Ave N
1710 Fremont Ave N
2307 Bryant Ave N
2634 Emerson Ave N
1923 Newton Ave N
2720 Girard Ave N

IREP Risk and Casualty
3000 Knox Ave N

CTW Group Inc.
3119 Russell Ave N
3447 Lyndale Ave N
2812 Dupont Ave N