Former real estate agent indicted for wire fraud

PALMER -- A former Mat-Su real estate agent was indicted by a federal grand jury for wire fraud in connection with a deal he brokered three years ago in the Valley, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Wednesday.

Dean R. Beaulieu, 50, was charged for inserting himself as the middleman in the sale of a parcel of 325 lots in Settlers Bay subdivision in 2001, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's office in Anchorage.

Beaulieu allegedly defrauded his client, Anthony Lerma, by purchasing the lots himself and then selling them to Lerma at a higher price.

Beaulieu used a shell corporation to conceal his role in the transaction -- buying the land Lerma wanted, raising the price and immediately selling it to Lerma while pocketing the difference. In this case, the difference was $270,000.

The indictment also alleges Beaulieu continued to defraud his client after the sale by attempting to defeat Lerma's efforts to recover the money due to him as a result of the fraud.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office on Friday said a summons will be issued and that Beaulieu is not in custody.

Beaulieu's attorney, James Gilmore, could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.

Lerma's attorney, David Shoup, said Beaulieu acted as Lerma's real estate agent in the past and the two had a working relationship.

"Mr. Lerma was caught completely by surprise," Shoup said. "In his eyes, Beaulieu was acting as a real estate agent, not a seller. He really had no idea."

Before the deal was finalized, Beaulieu flew to Nevada and set up a corporation he named Settlers Bay Financial Inc. The corporation selling the land was called Settlers Bay Development Inc., a subsidiary of Trillium Corp. Beaulieu hired a company to temporarily list other names for his shell corporation. The deal between Trillium and Beaulieu, and the subsequent deal between Beaulieu's corporation and Lerma, of which he knew nothing, closed on the same day.

It wasn't until a dispute over an airstrip arose months later between Lerma and the homeowners that Lerma discovered he had been had.

To resolve the dispute, Lerma contacted Trillium Corp., and in the course of faxing documents back and forth they realized there were two different contracts. Trillium sold the land for $2 million; Lerma paid $2.27 million for it.

Within months of this discovery, Lerma brought a civil suit against Beaulieu. However, the suit has been stalled because Beaulieu filed for bankruptcy before the case went to trial.

Shoup said losses for Lerma are listed in excess of $400,000 and he has yet to recover anything. If a restitution order comes out of the criminal case, the civil suit may not be necessary, Shoup said.

Beaulieu owned Best in the Land Realty but surrendered his real estate license in September 2003 after the Alaska Division of Occupational Licensing brought charges against him.

The Division of Occupational Licensing lists seven businesses under Beaulieu's name from 1991 to 2002. Five were in Wasilla and two were in North Pole.

Wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The case is still being investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.com.