An Eagle homebuilder and former head coach of girls basketball at Centennial High School in Boise was sentenced on a felony forgery charge.
Kerry Angelos, 62, pleaded guilty at an Aug. 6 hearing to forging the signatures of two Eagle residents, his clients at the time, without their knowledge to obtain a construction loan to build their dream home. He pursued the loan despite previously indicating to them that he didn’t want to work with a bank or get a traditional construction loan.
On Tuesday, 4th District Judge Cynthia Yee-Wallace in Boise ordered Angelos to pay $400,000 in restitution to Jay and Julene Quinlan as part of a plea deal. The deal allows Angelos to avoid prison time but spend five years of probation if he pays restitution to the Eagle couple.
Jay Quinlan said in a statement before the court that Angelos’ actions caused the family to lose its lifelong savings, and resulted in lost time with their children and emotional distress.
“The defendant’s actions were not just a financial crime — they shattered our sense of security and trust in others,” Quinlan said. “We have worked hard for what we have. This loss has forced us to reevaluate our life, future and relationships.”
The Quinlans were neighbors with Angelos for several years when they struck a deal with him in 2020 to build the home on a nearby half-acre lot at 863 N. Nolina Ave. in Eagle. The 3,000-square-foot home, now valued at about $1.5 million by Realtor.com, has three bedrooms, five bathrooms and a six-car garage.
They signed a purchase and sale agreement with Angelos’ company, North Star Homes, and wired him $400,000 in July 2021 to build the home. Nearly a year later, Angelos falsified their signatures on a separate contract that inflated the cost of the home and underrepresented the amount of earnest money the Quinlans had already paid.
Ada County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katelyn Skaggs alleged that Angelos did so to increase the amount of money he would get to build the home.
Forgery went ‘far beyond poor business practices’
After forging their signatures, Angelos failed to meet timely building obligations and “completely breached the agreement” with the financing company, which resulted in the financing company taking over the project and leaving the Quinlans “on the outside of the deal, out $400,000 and now with the prospect of a home that costs much more than they had anticipated in the original sale agreement,” Skaggs said during closing arguments.
“The forgery in this case went far beyond poor business practices,” she said. “It was malpractice and criminal behavior.”
Skaggs added: “The defendant has a reputation in the community for these types of business practices.”
During the hearing, Michael Bartlett, Angelos’ attorney, accused the Quinlans of distributing “disparaging” fliers and stickers about Angelos at high school sporting events and in mailboxes and on cars in various neighborhoods. The Quinlans accused Angelos of accosting them and their children, leading the family to obtain a restraining order.
“There’s bad behavior on both sides,” Yee-Wallace said. “I want to note from the victims’ perspective, I don’t condone any behavior of trying to take revenge and retribution in your own hands. That is specifically what the courts are for. But I understand the emotion. I understand the depth of the betrayal. I understand the depth of the trust that was violated.”
Despite Skaggs’ comment about Angelos’ reputation, Yee-Wallace noted that a number of people spoke highly of Angelos in character statements submitted to the court.
“There was a whole list of attributes that I’m sure are true about you,” Yee-Wallace said, facing Angelos. “But what is also true, from the court’s observations and perspective, is that this was extraordinarily dishonest. And I don’t see this as happening in a vacuum. I really don’t see this as an outlier choice.”
Judge says homebuilder was deceptive from the start
Yee-Wallace went on to say that she’s seen a number of construction cases and that the way Angelos went about the project from the beginning was deceptive. She said that construction draws, which are a formal method of accessing funds from a construction loan as a project progresses rather than disbursing the entire amount at once, provide accountability and transparency to protect the homeowner.
She said that taking the Quinlans’ money without draws allowed Angelos to make choices that were not in their best interest.
“It had huge consequences,” she said. “I think the loss of this money for these folks, and the loss of their dream home or their home period, is just as devastating and just as great a loss that they will grieve as anything else.”
The Quinlans sold their previous home to buy the lot and to finance the new home. The family has been without a home for over three years, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.
The Quinlans sued Angelos and North Star Homes in a separate civil case that’s still making its way through the courts. Other defendants in that case include Meridian Indemnity, a lender; Empire Title, a Treasure Valley title and escrow company; and Sierra Valley Painting, a painting business based in Nampa.
Angelos: ‘I made a bad choice that day’
Yee-Wallace ordered that the $400,000 restitution Angelos owes the Quinlans in the criminal case be offset by any amount the Quinlans are awarded in the civil case. She also ordered Angelos to pay court costs.
On Tuesday, Bartlett said Angelos has built thousands of homes and was the third-largest residential developer in Idaho before the 2008 recession, when he “lost everything.” Bartlett said the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing supply chain disruptions, interest-rate hikes and inflation caused Angelos’ business to again struggle substantially.
“He had every intention of building this home,” Bartlett said. “It’s just that the economy and financial circumstances waylaid his business. … When the time came for him to get financing, instead of doing the right thing, which was to go to the Quinlans and talk about it and sign a loan agreement, he forged it.”
In a brief statement at the Tuesday hearing, Angelos apologized to the Quinlans and his own family for his actions.
“I made a bad choice that day, and I am paying the price for it,” he said.
Yee-Wallace ordered that Angelos provide a statement in writing to all current and future clients or anyone else he does business with in the field of construction that says he unlawfully forged his clients’ signatures on a purchase and sale agreement without their knowledge or consent and that he used the forged document to obtain a construction loan for his own use. The statements must be signed and dated by Angelos and the clients. She also directed him to keep a record of the documents and submit them to his probation officer.
In less than 30 days, Angelos has to make his first monthly restitution payment. The money will be held by the court until the civil case is resolved. If he fails to make the payments, the court could impose the maximum sentence for the crime, which is 14 years in prison and $50,000 fine.
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