Estel "Zeke" Blevins might have had bigger things in mind than just getting the clubhouse at Lakes in Regency Park.
By STEVE THOMPSON
Published June 25, 2004
First, Estel "Zeke" Blevins may have used a fraudulent contract to gain control of the $300,000 clubhouse at the Lakes in Regency Park subdivision in Port Richey.
That matter, detailed in a Times story Sunday, could have been just the first step in a more ambitious plan.
Representatives of a Pasco County church and a school said this week that Blevins also offered them deals that would have moved their organizations into the clubhouse.
One proposal would have given Blevins control of the cash assets of the First Baptist Church of Seven Springs, perhaps nearly $500,000. The other would have given him a 50-50 cut of government funds used to pay for training disabled adults.
Carl James, First Baptist's treasurer, said he told Blevins: "Why would you think for one moment that I would give you 51 percent and take 49 percent of something I already have 100 percent of?"
Dave Neal, president of The Red Apple School for disadvantaged adults, also rejected Blevins' offer, and questioned his motives.
Blevins' motives seem clear to Stephen Madden, a former Pasco County Sheriff's Office economic crimes detective whom the Times asked about these proposals.
"If you take money, money is the end of business, that's what you're after," said Madden, now a computer technician for MCI. "But if you get property, you either have to sell the property or you have to figure some sort of cash generation for it."
Madden said the tactics Blevins appears to have used are familiar to law enforcement agencies, but difficult to prosecute: Company A, with thousands of dollars in assets, makes a deal with company B, which ends up with all assets. It often appears to be a civil matter, he said.
The question, he said, is what was the compensation to company A? "If there is none, it's theft."
Blevins is a twice-convicted felon with a history as a con man. He once faked his death by identifying another man's corpse as his own.
State Sen. Mike Fasano and state Rep. Heather Fiorentino, both New Port Richey Republicans, asked Attorney General Charlie Crist this week for an investigation into the issues raised in the Times story Sunday.
The Sheriff's Office also continues its investigation, which it began earlier this year after complaints from Lakes in Regency residents.
Meanwhile, Blevins took steps to distance himself from the Covenant Foundation.
He is Covenant's executive director, and it is that organization that now controls the Lakes in Regency Park clubhouse, on whose grounds it plans to build an assisted-living facility.
In a letter to the foundation's board and others, dated Sunday, Blevins denounced the Times article and wrote: "I have attempted to perform my duties honorably and regret that the things that I did thirty years ago have surfaced to soil your clearly worthy efforts."
Blevins went on to say he is resigning from the Covenant Foundation.
But exactly what that means is difficult to determine. He has not returned calls for comment since walking out of an interview last week in which he was confronted with his criminal record.
Further muddying the picture was an announcement from Estel Blevins' nephew, Doug Blevins.
Doug Blevins is executive director of the RACHAM Foundation. He said RACHAM has taken over one of the Covenant Foundation's principle assets, two homes in Palm Harbor for persons with developmental disabilities. The homes cater to low-income adults. Medicaid pays for much of their treatment.
Asked how RACHAM can take over a facility licensed by the state to the Covenant Foundation, Doug Blevins said he didn't know.
"I'm going to have to talk to the state of Florida on that one and ask what they want to see happen," Doug Blevins said.
State officials said they had not been notified of the takeover, and that it would not be easily approved.
"It would not merely be a notification because there cannot be a wholesale transfer of license or service agreement like that," said Carl Littlefield, a program administrator for the Department of Children and Families.
There are multiple connections between the Covenant and RACHAM foundations:
Estel Blevins' ex-wife Mary Blevins, with whom he shares a Clearwater condo address, is listed as a member of the board of the Covenant Foundation. Under the name Mary Robinson (her maiden name) she is listed on the board of RACHAM.
Doug Blevins considers Estel Blevins a mentor and says he helped him put together RACHAM.
Indeed, Estel Blevins' employment history says he was the "Consultant CFO RACHAM Foundation, Inc."
Doug Blevins said Wednesday that his RACHAM Foundation is "not attached to the Covenant Foundation."
He said he has asked Mary Blevins to resign from the RACHAM board.
Meanwhile, the Times learned that it was Mary Blevins, representing herself as president of the Covenant Foundation, who applied for the DCF license for the Freshwater Harbor Group Home in Palm Harbor.
She did not include Estel Blevins, the foundation's president and executive director, in the list of officers.
Littlefield said if DCF had known of Estel Blevins' criminal background and role at Covenant Foundation, the license might not have been granted.
"It's fair to say," Littlefield said, "that we do not look well on any unseemly characters."
