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By CARRIE JOHNSON, Times Staff WriterAn assistant state attorney says the investigation into real estate agent Cary Bond Thomas is nearly finished.
ST. PETERSBURG - The elderly man whose family is embroiled in a dispute with local real estate agent Cary Bond Thomas over whether she had permission to sell his Snell Isle home died Friday.
Harry Lieffers Jr., 78, had suffered from dementia for several years. His son-in-law, Ken Reibel, said Lieffers' health took a sudden turn for the worse in the past week. Lieffers died at Carrington Place, an assisted living facility in St. Petersburg.
Lieffers' death won't halt the ongoing investigation into Thomas, who is accused of forging a listing agreement that would have given her exclusive rights to sell a retired lawyer's $880,000 home on Brightwaters Boulevard in 2003.
Pinellas-Pasco Assistant State Attorney Bob Lewis said the investigation into Thomas is nearly finished. No criminals charges have been filed.
Thomas, who did not return a phone call seeking comment, has denied any wrongdoing. Her attorney, Seymour Gordon, said he has not heard from prosecutors.
Lieffers was born in Grand Rapids, Mich. He served briefly in World War II and attended Northwestern University College of Law in Chicago. He practiced insurance law in Michigan for 32 years before retiring to Snell Isle in the mid 1980s.
The inquiry into Thomas began after prosecutors learned of a separate investigation by the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which oversees real estate agents. The agency said Thomas admitted to forging Lieffers' name on a listing agreement when she knew he already had listed the property with another agent.
Reibel, who is married to Lieffers' daughter Jennifer, said Thomas has called him several times to ask him to drop the complaint.
"She started pleading poverty - this woman who sells million-dollar homes," Reibel said. "It's kind of embarrassing to Realtors. At least to the honest ones."
The allegations involve the sale of Lieffers' former home at 801 Brightwaters Blvd. He decided to sell in 2003 after he lost his wife of 32 years, Betty Lieffers.
Betty Lieffers had apparently talked to Thomas about selling the house about two months before she died, according to family members. According to Thomas, Lieffers told her to handle the sale at his wife's memorial service on May 25, 2003.
But about a week after the service, Lieffers decided he wanted another agent, Gerard Growney, to sell the house, and he signed a listing agreement with him.
Thomas told family members that Lieffers already had signed a listing agreement with her. She faxed them a copy of the agreement with Lieffers' signature.
But relatives did not think it looked like his handwriting. It was signed "Harry Lieffers," but he usually signed his name "Harry Lieffers Jr.," Reibel said.
The family went with the other agent, Growney. They also filed a complaint against Thomas with the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
Lieffers' house eventually was sold for $880,000.