A real estate investor and prominent figure in Asheville Watchdog’s series, Equity Erased, has been criminally charged in a long-running state investigation.

Robert Perry Tucker II of Asheville, who is also an attorney, faces two counts each of filing a false lien, a felony, and conspiracy to file a false lien, a misdemeanor.

Also charged with the same counts: Attorney Ilesanmi Adaramola, formerly of Asheville, and Lisa K. Roberts, who had worked with Tucker on real estate deals in Buncombe. 

Adaramola and Roberts were arrested in 2022 on other real estate-related charges, which are pending. Roberts faces 43 felony counts of fraud and forgery, and Adaramola, six counts of notary fraud, a felony. 

Adaramola’s attorney, Stephen Lindsay of Asheville, said of the most recent charges, “We’ll be prepared to defend it.. . . [We] are pretty firm that we’re going to trial, unless they dismiss the charges.”

Tucker’s attorney, Gregory Newman of Hendersonville, did not respond to messages seeking comment. Jack Stewart of Asheville, who represents Roberts, identified in court filings as Roberts-Allen, declined to comment through his office.

The charges stem from two 2018 mortgages recorded on Buncombe properties, according to grand jury indictments in September. One of the properties belonged to David Shroat, a former law enforcement officer who lost his Arden home and more than $40,000 in a scheme involving Roberts, Tucker, Adaramola, and two others, a civil fraud action alleged.

The indictments allege Roberts, Tucker, and Adaramola filed a false lien against Shroat’s property and one other, “knowing or having reason to know that the lien or encumbrance is false or contains a materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation.”

All three were also charged with conspiring with one another “to commit the felony of Filing a False Lien or Encumbrance,” the indictments state. 

The North Carolina secretary of state, which brought the charges, declined to comment because the cases are pending, said spokesman Tim Crowley.

Filing a false lien is a Class I crime, the least serious felony, punishable by up to 24 months in prison. Tucker, 62, and Roberts, 63, were released on a written promise to appear in court. 

Adaramola, 40, has not yet been served, Lindsay said. She lives in Guilford County and continues to practice law in western North Carolina, according to court records.

Adaramola’s 2022 charges are also Class I felonies, while Roberts’s are Class I and Class H, which are punishable by up to 39 months in prison for each count.

No action has been taken on those cases since July 2023, when the prosecution was transferred from the Buncombe County district attorney to the secretary of state, court records show. Asked about the status of those cases, Crowley said all charges against Adaramola and Roberts “remain active.” 

Lindsay, Adaramola’s attorney, said he expects the cases to be consolidated and a trial date set likely in the fall.

The criminal charges were prompted by The Watchdog’s 7-part Equity Erased investigative series that revealed how Buncombe homeowners, many elderly and/or Black, lost years and sometimes generations of property wealth in deals with Roberts and Tucker. For many of the homeowners, their homes were their only assets.

Roberts, who called herself a housing advocate, notarized deeds and negotiated deals for Tucker’s companies to buy properties, often in distress, at a fraction of their market value. Adaramola notarized documents for Roberts and represented her in court.

The secretary of state and three other agencies opened investigations shortly after the series began in late 2021. 

‘False liens’ in indictments aided home purchases 

The false liens alleged in the 2024 indictments were among a series of real estate transactions in 2018 that led to companies controlled by Roberts purchasing and flipping two properties, including Shroat’s home, records show.

Shroat, a former Asheville police officer and Buncombe sheriff’s detective, had fallen behind on his mortgage payments when a bank initiated foreclosure proceedings in April 2018. Shroat’s former girlfriend, a joint owner of the property, accepted an offer from Roberts that included $3,500 and paying off her portion of the mortgage, as The Watchdog reported.

The property had a tax value of $249,000, and Shroat and his girlfriend owed about $140,000 on the mortgage.

On May 22, 2018, a deed prepared by Adaramola transferred the girlfriend’s 50 percent interest to VLM Investments LLC, Roberts’s company. 

Two days later, a new mortgage, prepared by Tucker, was recorded on the property, purportedly a loan to VLM Investments from 740 Biltmore Avenue Group, Tucker’s company, for $125,000. The indictments allege that mortgage, known as a deed of trust, was a false lien.

The mortgage created a public record that likely deterred other buyers from bidding on the property at a sale Roberts forced through the courts, as The Watchdog previously reported.

Roberts’s company owned half of the property but needed Shroat’s half to sell it. 

As Tucker had done in several cases, Roberts made use of a Jim Crow-era law that’s been exploited nationwide by investors. The partition law allows any owner of a jointly owned property to ask the courts to order the entire property sold.

Adaramola, on behalf of VLM Investments, filed a partition case against Shroat and obtained a court order to sell the property. At a partition sale with no other bidders, another Roberts company bought the property reportedly for $145,000 and sold it a short time later for $210,000, according to property records.

After costs and fees, Roberts’ company received $40,118, and Shroat, nothing, a closing statement showed. 

The partition sale attracted no buyers besides Roberts’s company likely because the purported mortgage between VLM and Tucker’s company made the property appear to be underwater, attorney Tikkun Gottschalk of Asheville previously told The Watchdog.

Gottschalk filed a civil fraud action in 2022 on behalf of Shroat against Tucker, Roberts, Adaramola, and two others, alleging in part that the mortgage “created a false lien.” He told The Watchdog he found no evidence that any money was lent or repaid.

The civil case was settled in 2023. The defendants, who admitted no wrongdoing, agreed to pay $116,000 with proceeds going to a guardianship for Shroat, who suffers from dementia.

Asked about the allegation that the mortgage between Roberts’s and Tucker’s companies was false and recorded to deter other buyers, Adaramola’s attorney said, “I can see that perspective.”

“The question is whether my client was able to see that or whether she was just utilized without knowing everything that was going on,” Lindsay said. “I don’t believe that she was aware of the back story here.”

He said Adaramola was a relatively new lawyer at the time. 

“You don’t learn everything in law school,” Lindsay said. “If the people that are guiding you along the way have poor motives, then you’re probably easy prey for somebody who wants to take advantage of it.”

The other false lien identified in the indictment involves a mortgage recorded on a Black Mountain property.

VLM Investments purchased a half-interest in that property for $3,000 in June 2018, according to the deed, and then filed a partition action against the other owner.

On June 19, 2018, a mortgage prepared by Adaramola was recorded on the property between VLM Investments and Tucker’s company, 740 Biltmore Avenue Group, for $190,000. The indictments do not indicate how that mortgage was allegedly false.

On July 24, 2018, VLM acquired the remainder of the property when the other owner sold his half for $3,000. With full ownership of the property, VLM sold it a month later for $110,000, property records show.

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Sally Kestin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter. Email skestin@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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