North Carolina real estate developer pleads guilty to wire fraud, possession of firearm by felon – The Coastland Times
A Raleigh man pleaded guilty to fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343, and possession of a firearm by a felon in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 922 (g) on June 23 got a news release from the Department of Justice, Eastern District of North Carolina.
“With this plea, this office is bringing a dangerous man to justice who has defrauded numerous real estate investors in North Carolina and elsewhere,” said Acting US Attorney G. Norman Acker III. “We are grateful for the work of our federal, state and local counterparts for their joint efforts to ensure that the accused pays a heavy price for their crimes.”
According to court documents, Joshua Matthew Houchins, 36, the owner of several Raleigh real estate development companies, admitted cheating on real estate investors. Houchins also admitted illegally possessing a firearm after being convicted of a crime, according to the statement.
According to the replacing indictment, Houchins owned and operated Rossshire Development LLC, Greenstone Ventures LLC and Modern South Development LLC between 2014 and 2018 and used these companies to defraud its real estate development investors. “In particular, Houchins has solicited investment funds by telling victims that their money would be ‘used’ on specific property and advocating that the investments would be secured by trust deeds deposited with the county’s commercial register,” it said the message. In fact, Houchins did not use all investor money on the property that the investor was asked to invest in, but regularly used investor money on other properties or for personal expenses. Likewise, the investor’s borrower’s notes were not secured by a trust agreement as promised. In some cases, Houchins did not even own the property that was the subject of the investment and therefore could not truthfully place a trust deed on the investor. “
The indictment alleges that after Houchins diverted investor money from the property on which the funds were to be spent, he failed to develop and sell the properties as he advocated. “Houchins then fell behind with the notes because he was not paying investors the promised returns,” the press release said. “The investors could not close the investment property because Houchins had not secured the promissory note with a deposited trust deed, which led to losses for the investors.”
Houchins pleaded guilty expressly to Count Nine, who on January 6, 2017, charged with a case of the fraud described above. As part of the plea, he agreed to reimburse all victims for losses incurred from the system and related systems.
According to the second part of the replacing indictment, the grand jury began investigating Houchins for the above offenses in 2018. After issuing subpoenas to his attorney and to his various real estate companies, Houchins only presented a small number of documents to the grand jury, according to the notice. Instead, the indictment alleges that Houchins admitted in a February 2020 letter that he had “destroyed all evidence”.
The replacing indictment also alleges that Houchins, who recently separated from his wife, began sending her harassing messages. The indictment alleges that Houchin’s wife received a Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) prohibiting Houchins from contacting, threatening, or harassing his wife. While Houchins was already banned from owning a firearm due to his convicted felon status, the DVPO banned him from owning a firearm, the statement said.
The replacement indictment then claims that Houchins told friends of his wife in March 2020 that she “ran to the police” and that Houchins had “no mercy on a lying rat,” the release said. About a month later, the replacing indictment alleges that Houchins sent threatening letters to his wife’s friends and family, including photos of Houchins wearing a mask and tactical vest.
The replacing indictment then accuses Houchins of having been arrested after his Internet search for “killing your wife for love”.
“At the time of his arrest, Houchins was in possession of a Ruger AR-15, 4 magazines, a double canister magazine with 100 rounds of ammunition, two boxes of .223 ammunition and a tactical vest,” the statement said. “Houchins pleaded guilty to Count Fourteen, who claimed he owned the Ruger AR-15 despite being a convicted felon.”
Acker made the plea announcement. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the North Carolina Secretary of State are investigating the case, and assistance has been provided from the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, Apex Police Department, and Sanford Police Department. US Assistant Attorney William M. Gilmore leads the indictment.
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