Sale Leaseback Peddler Aquitted Of Charges Accusing Him Of Tricking Couple Facing Foreclosure Into Signing Over Deed To Home

In Farmington, Utah, the Standard Examiner reports:

• A judge rendered a not guilty verdict on two felony counts against a Morgan man accused of swindling a former West Point couple out of their home. Judge David M. Connors issued the not guilty verdicts Thursday in 2nd District Court following almost two days of testimony in a bench trial for Jeffery Q. Wangsgard, 57.

• The state Attorney General’s Office had charged Wangsgard in January of 2008 with two second-degree felonies: one count of communication fraud and one count of exploitation of a vulnerable adult.

• The charges accused Wangsgard of tricking Emery and June Mitton, when they were facing foreclosure in 2006, into signing documents that transferred their property deed over to the company where Wangsgard worked.

• Assistant Attorney General Charlene Barlow said she plans to go forward with remaining counts against Wangsgard. Those counts involve two other families who said they were tricked out of their homes by Wangsgard. Connors set Feb. 2 and Feb. 3 for one case and Feb. 9 and 10 for another case. Wangsgard is charged with second-degree felony communication fraud in both cases.

For more, see Not guilty verdict in swindling case.