A man who owned a loan-modification business in Lehi and St. George has been accused of defrauding homeowners by allegedly taking money they paid for his services and using it for personal expenses, including for his wife’s plastic surgery.
David Shawn Moffitt, 34, of Lehi, faces nine felony counts of communications fraud, theft and racketeering in 3rd District Court.
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Moffitt and his father, Ernest, worked with Daniel Pogue, who was killed by police while wielding a shotgun at the Oquirrh Mountain LDS Temple on Christmas Day 2010.
David Moffitt operated Fortified Financial, Fortified Academy and Wasatch Rent 2 Own. From late 2008 to October 2010, he charged $2,500 to $3,000 to obtain loan modifications so clients would not lose their homes in foreclosures, and promised full refunds if they were not satisfied, according to court documents.
But the Utah Attorney General’s Office alleges Moffitt refused refunds for as many as 200 clients and instead kept the money for himself. About $4,000 in client funds went to the doctor who performed plastic surgery on Moffitt’s wife, and money also was used for entertainment and other personal expenses, according to documents.
Moffitt’s attorney, Stephen Howard, of Salt Lake City, declined to comment on Tuesday.
In March, 3rd District Court Judge Mark Kouris awarded a couple who alleged they were defrauded by the Moffitts and their companies, along with Pogue and Matthew D. Cartwright, $92,000 in damages and $2 million in punitive damages for a real estate investment.
The attorney suing Moffitt, Danny Quintana, estimated Moffitt had taken more than $2 million from the public through his "loan modification scam and an untold amount of money from his prior real estate scams," Kouris wrote.
At least 40 lawsuits were filed against Moffitt, who was "targeting the credit cards of desperate homeowners trying to save their homes," the judge found.
Pogue, 54, was carrying a shotgun and pointing it at people at the LDS Temple when he was shot by an officer, the South Jordan Police Department said at the time.
Ernest Moffitt, who described himself as Pogue’s best friend, told The Tribune at the time that he believed Pogue suffered brain damage from a high fever in the days leading up to his death and went to the temple armed to shoot birds he thought were after him.
About three weeks before the shooting, Kouris had set a March 2011 trial date for the lawsuit that named the Moffitts and Pogue. According to the judge’s finding, Pogue had acted as a renter of property that David Moffitt convinced a couple to invest in, but Pogue then never paid any rent to them, and the property was foreclosed on, according to the suit.
Twitter: @TomHarveysltrib
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