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State checking eBay land deals

Much of the land is inaccessible and lacks roads and infrastructure.

By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published May 5, 2006

"Some of the best recreational land in Florida and the U.S.A.!" one ad reads. "When this area becomes further developed, this land could be worth a small fortune!"

But the Florida Attorney General's Office is investigating whether the former Hillsborough County commissioner turned felon is making his own small fortune hawking inaccessible swampland.

Many of Bowmer's offerings are 1-¹/₄-acre lots in River Ranch Acres, a subdivided but never developed enclave in Polk County. The area gained a reputation in the 1960s as one of Florida's great land scams and more recently for battles between absentee landowners and hometown hunters who guard the turf.

The lots are valued at $630 by the Polk property appraiser's office. Bowmer, 60, sells them for several thousand dollars and hypes their eventual development potential.

Yet much of the land lies in environmentally sensitive areas that lack roads and infrastructure and have little chance of ever getting them, officials said.

"It's highly unlikely that you can go in there and plow wetlands to put in large subdivisions,'' said Todd Mudge, land supervisor for the Polk property appraiser's office. "You can't even get to it."

Bowmer did not return calls on Wednesday or Thursday for comment.

Since 2002, Bowmer has purchased 54 properties in Polk County and sold 49, county records show.

Attorney general spokeswoman JoAnn Carrin said a citizen tipped off investigators in March to Bowmer's eBay auctions, which he runs under his Lutz company, Buccaneer Property Services.

Investigators have subpoenaed the company's records to determine if buyers were deceived about the land's characteristics and value, Carrin said Thursday.

The case, she noted, is "very new."

Trouble with the law, however, is well-trod territory for one of Hillsborough's most infamous good ole' boys.

Elected to the commission in 1976, Bowmer spent his next seven years in office taking more than 100 bribes. He was convicted on extortion and conspiracy charges in 1986 but received only three years in federal prison because he testified against two other crooked commissioners.

A cattle rustling scheme with his two sons in the 1990s landed the onetime Church of God minister another multiyear prison stint. He finished serving his probation on that racketeering charge last October.

None of which is mentioned on Bowmer's eBay resume.

As far as Chris Baumann of Lindenhurst, N.Y., knew, Bowmer rightfully earned a 98.9 percent approval rating from dozens of eBay buyers.

In March, the retired police officer paid $3,800 for a slice of River Ranch, sight unseen. He thought of it as a long-term investment that in the meantime would be a nice place to go nature walking with his two children.

"He said it's inaccessible at this time ... but there's growth south of it,'' said Baumann, 43.

"He told me that they'll definitely build roads into it."

Did Baumann know the property was appraised at $630?

"No,'' he said.

Ted R. Miller Jr. was thrilled in December to dump his River Ranch property off on Bowmer.

Miller bought the land about 15 years ago, he said, hoping he could one day retire to Polk County.

Then he had to hire a man with a four-wheel drive tractor to navigate the snakes and palmettos, before Miller could even set foot on his swampy paradise.

"I expected it to be undeveloped," the 80-year-old said Thursday, "but I didn't expect it to be jungle almost."

The headache of lawsuits against local hunters who did their best to keep out-of-town owners, health officials and law enforcement out of River Ranch followed. When Bowmer offered what Miller considered a "fair and honorable price" for his property, Miller was happy to sell.

"I didn't make any money off it but at least I got it off my hands," said Miller.

He retired, instead, to Miramar Beach.

- Times staff writer Jeff Testerman contributed to this report. Colleen Jenkins can be reached at 813 226-3337 or cjenkins@sptimes.com.

[Last modified May 5, 2006, 06:01:48]