News and Finance

Kathy Chaney Watching a baseball game unfold is what it’s been like for a West Side woman who stood by her father as he fought in court to stay inside the home he’s owned for nearly 46 years. Hyweda (cq) Howard and her older sister Thelma Tolbert were in probate court yesterday at the Daley Center hoping to hear the judge grant the motion to continue letting her father, Tellie Howard, stay in his home as he fights the eviction process. Tellie Howard wanted to refinance his mortgage to avoid foreclosure and to get some work done on his home on West Wilcox. Instead, Howard trusted the wrong person and was scammed into signing his property away, he said. The Defender featured Howard’s story in the Nov. 28 issue. “It‘s like a baseball game. First you deal with the manager, then the coach, and now comes the team. That’s how he [Anthony Deveaux] played us. He gained the trust of my father. But, all her really wanted was the house to get the money out of it. Instead of helping us like he promised, he hurt us,” Hyweda Howard said after a circuit court judge continued tO halt the eviction proceedings until the next court date. A date has not been determined. The 87-year-old man said Deveaux approached him after finding out that Howard was in financial difficulty and in jeopardy of losing his home. In May 2006, Deveaux arranged for the refinance and arranged for a payment book to be sent to Howard so he could mail in his mortgage payments, Howard said. Thinking it was a good idea; Howard agreed and made every mortgage payment on time. He thought the nightmare was over. It just began. According to a lawsuit filed by the Cook County Public Guardian’s office on behalf of Howard’s disabled wife Addie Howard — who is now a ward of the state and living in a nursing home — Anthony Deveaux bought the property from Howard and his wife for $230,000. “Mrs. Howard is deemed disabled and mentally incompetent, therefore ruling out any assertions that she signed a real estate sales contract. Mrs. Howard was not present to sign any documents. Mr. Howard said he didn’t sign his property over to Deveaux. Mr. Howard thought he was signing a mortgage refinance contract, nothing else. Deveaux knew that Mr. Howard didn‘t know he was signing his home away,” Dawn Lawkowski-Keller, an attorney in the public guardian’s office said. The public guardian’s office said they obtained two separate appraisals for the Howard residence and both times the appraised value was $158,000. This is in contrast to an appraisal the office said Deveaux had done that appraised the property for more than $300,000. Lawkowski-Keller also said Deveaux is making his living on scamming the elderly out of their homes and speculates that the more than $100,000 in proceeds from the alleged fraudulent scheme to buy the Howard’s home financed a Bentley automobile that Deveaux reportedly owns payday loans lenders. “He conducts get rich quick real estate seminars and has videos on You Tube about his lifestyle. You can see him driving his Bentley on there,” Keller said. Keller made unsuccessful attempts to summons Deveaux to court. Attempts by the Defender to reach Deveaux were also unsuccessful. After Deveaux took ownership of the Howard residence in June 2006 he then transferred the property to Cheryl Gist-Williams of Rehabbed Equities in October 2006 for $272,000, the lawsuit stated. Nine months later, Howard was served with eviction papers from Red Door Properties and Management, on behalf of Gist-Williams. “Cheryl Gist-Williams will therefore no longer accept any payment of rents due from you. All amounts you still owe will be set off against your security deposit, and the remaining balance will form part of the claim, which Cheryl Gist-Williams will file against you,” stated the eviction memo dated July 27. Howard said he was not aware of the two ownership transfers and thought he was paying mortgage on the home he thought he still owned, not renting. Red Door then sent a letter, dated Aug. 7, to Howard stating that Gist-Williams will enter into a lease agreement with him beginning Sept. 1 if Howard agrees to pay $1,075 each month, in addition to past due rent of $1,303. “If you will agree to these terms Rehabbed Equities will not pursue eviction. However, if the terms are not agreed upon, eviction will be filed immediately,” the letter stated. Gist-Williams was in court yesterday but declined to comment on the matter. Diane Billings, an attorney and notary public who has signed off on many of Deveaux’s real estate deals, according to Keller, was also in court but left the courtroom before reporters could speak with her. Also standing with the Howard family in court was the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and the South Austin Coalition. “It’s the same team manipulating people’s homes. These predators are surveying areas with high foreclosures and cherry-picking the weakest in order to get the homes. They get inflated appraisals done and push the homeowners right out of the door,” Rev. Jesse Jackson said. Instead of keeping the homeowners in the homes, the system allows the scammers to stay instead. The elderly and minorities are steered to sub-prime loans, the areas are redlined. Scammers denigrate the neighborhoods, Jackson said. “The bottom line is to stop scam artists,” he added. In Chicago there are 30,000 homeowners in foreclosure and 85,000 that are currently late on their payments. Nationwide, 2.2 million homeowners are in foreclosure. PUSH will hold a news conference today at 12 p.m. at its headquarters about the continued foreclosure crisis.
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