Sheriff Harvey Sued over Past Due Mortgage Payments

Farmers and Merchants Bank has filed suit in circuit court against Wildwood Golf LLC and its owners, including Wakulla County Sheriff David F. Harvey, seeking a past-due mortgage payment of $210,999.98 plus interest and late charges.
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In a separate complaint, the bank is seeking to foreclose on the golf club because the business is in default on its mortgage. The principal and interest were due Oct. 15.

"The defendants are in further breach of the mortgage by failing to pay the taxes on the mortgaged property for the year 2008," the suit states.

As of Friday, Wildwood Golf LLC owed taxes of $815.65 on a 2.09-acre lot and $27,889.11 on a second parcel of 161.2 acres, according to the Wakulla County Tax Collector.

Named as defendants are Wildwood Golf LLC and co-owners Joseph C. Barry, Harvey, John W. Lentz and Gerald W. Thompson.

Barry, Harvey and Thompson made formal guarantees to the bank in October 2007 that they would personally guarantee the repayment of the note. Farmers and Merchants Bank is also seeking to recover its attorneys fees.

The partners could not be reached for comment.

Wildwood Golf LLC executed an agreement with the bank Oct. 31, 2005, including a promissory note in the amount of $1,004,708. The mortgage was recorded in the Wakulla County Clerk's Office the following Nov. 7.

In a related matter, the state Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco is continuing its investigation into a complaint from a citizens group that Harvey may be in violation of a state law by having a business interest in a club that sells alcohol.

Harvey is a co-owner of Wildwood Golf LLC, which runs the golf operation for the Wildwood Country Club, 3870 Coastal Highway. His wife, Rhonda, however, is listed as co-owner of a second LLC, the one that holds the club's alcoholic-beverage license.

The group, which calls itself Wakulla 411, noted that the sheriff has been given the owner/employee discount when buying alcohol, as the State Attorney's Office investigation into his Feb. 20 hit-and-run car crash uncovered.

The group suspects Harvey of violating Florida Statute 561.25, which states no sheriff is permitted to be employed, directly or indirectly, by any business that sells alcohol; or own stock or interest in a business that sells alcohol.

http://www.tallahassee.com/article/2...NESS/903280319

HOW IS IT that this is ongoing and recurring? Is everyone in Tallahassee asleep at the switch?

Tap, Tap- Is this thing on?