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Judge lands hard on home sale swindler

He gets five years and is ordered to repay almost $90,000 taken from people who thought they were buying mobile homes.

By CAMILLE C. SPENCER
Published September 2, 2006

NEW PORT RICHEY - Jayne Jackson lost $12,000 from her father-in-law's inheritance. Elmo Bench lost $3,000 from his mother-in-law's savings.

They gave the money to David Dewayne Lunsford, a sales manager at Wayne Frier Mobile Home Center in Hudson, as down payments on mobile homes. But they ended up empty-handed, their dreams of home ownership crushed.

Authorities say Lunsford duped 33 victims out of $89,944. Circuit Judge Joseph Bulone sentenced Lunsford Friday to five years in prison for aggravated white collar crimes and ordered him to pay back every penny.

"There is not doubt in the court's mind that you are a con artist," the judge told Lunsford. "I have seen it for myself, with testimony of the victims and my review of the court file ... what you've done is hurt a lot of innocent people. Quite frankly, you deserve what you're getting."

Lunsford, 37, collected money from clients from January 2002 to October 2003. He told them the money would go toward home purchases. One woman said she gave Lunsford more than $40,000, an arrest report said.

Pasco detectives originally estimated Lunsford stole $125,686 from the victims.

The figure dropped to $89,944 Friday because some victims chose not to pursue the matter further.

Lunsford, jailed since October 2005 on a grand theft charge, was ordered to pay restitution of $700 per month. He said he would repay the victims by working with his brother, although he didn't offer any more details.

Lunsford was arrested in November 2003 for aggravated white collar crime and went free on $22,500 bail, records show. Lunsford also has a 1999 conviction of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, records show.

Some victims, like Pattie Sinwich, were adamant about testifying Friday before Bulone.

When Sinwich uprooted her family in March 2003 from Fairless Hills, Pa., she hoped to fulfill her dream of owning a home.

Sinwich's father loaned her $5,000 as a down payment. Sinwich, her husband and three children moved into her parents' Hudson home temporarily until her mobile home was ready.

"He Lunsford said, 'Sweetheart, the house is yours, don't worry,' " Sinwich recalled.

Soon, Lunsford began telling Sinwich there were problems with her loan, and that she wasn't entitled to get her $5,000 back, Sinwich said.

Sinwich got about $2,800 back in the fall of 2003 through a real estate attorney. Still, she owes her father about $2,200.

Sinwich said five years in prison isn't a long enough for Lunsford.

"I was to move down here and have a home," Sinwich said. "Now, I am renting an apartment. I feel hurt. I feel violated. How do you tell your children the beautiful home you were buying for them is no more?"

Camille C. Spencer can be reached at (727) 869-6229 or cspencer@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 2, 2006, 06:40:29]