As more details emerge from the Beverly Hinson-Pella Stokes check kiting scheme, it turns out Guilford County Commissioner Steve Arnold has some checking account issues of his own:
Arnold offered this past June to buy 49 acres in Carter County, Tenn., for $220,000 from James and Marilyn Holt, who wanted to use the money to buy property in Montana.
But Arnold backed away from the offer, the couple said. He also engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices, according to filings, by presenting a $5,000 check to be deposited into an attorney’s trust account knowing the money wasn’t there and that he wouldn’t buy the property.
By backing out of the deal, the filing said, the couple had to sell other property and liquidate stock to raise money for the Montana property. They’ll also have to pay more taxes than they would have otherwise, the filing said.
“He never has paid the money back on the bounced check,” Krispen Culbertson, an attorney for the Holts, said of Arnold.
Filings showed that Arnold didn’t respond to the suit, which Culbertson called “undeniably curious.”
“In essence, he’s lost the case as far as liability,” Culbertson said. “Now it’s a question of how much.”
Arnold, who’s about as friendly with the local media as Bobby Knight is with the sports media, had no comment.
