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Carl Cole finds, loses new job in real estate
| Tuesday, Feb 26 2008 11:03 AM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Feb 26 2008 7:11 PM
Carl Cole, the former Crisp & Cole Real Estate broker now under investigation by the FBI, no longer has a recently acquired job with a coastal real estate company, an office manager confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
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Carl Cole
“He is no longer affiliated with the company,” said Cristina Better, team leader of Keller Williams Realty’s Camarillo branch at about 4:50 p.m. Tuesday.
Earlier Tuesday, The Californian reported Keller Williams recently hired Cole, 60, to work as a broker/associate in its Camarillo branch, according to a Feb 3. advertisement placed with the Ventura County Star newspaper.
Cole’s sudden departure was arrived at by “mutual agreement,” Better said, adding the company wished him well.
She said Cole was just getting started and had no listings of his own.
“He had not done any work here,” Better said.
But Cole was listed as sales contact on at least two homes, the Star’s archived newspaper ads show. One advertisement ran Jan. 27. The second ran Sunday.
When reached by phone at the Camarillo office Tuesday morning, Cole hung up.
He could not be reached following news of his departure.
The Ventura County Star ad of Feb. 3 listed a variety of professional titles Cole has earned, including the energy and environment-focused EcoBroker designation.
A Keller Williams Web biography since removed from the company’s Camarillo office Web site touted Cole’s personal passions as “Family, God, Country & the Earth.”
FALL TROUBLES
In September, federal agents raided 13 Bakersfield offices and homes associated with the Crisp & Cole Real Estate company and its founders, Cole and his former partner David Crisp, 28.
“We’re continuing to review the evidence that was obtained from the searches that were conducted,” said FBI special agent and spokesman Steve Dupre from Sacramento. No charges have been filed.
The Department of Real Estate, the state agency that regulates the real estate industry, filed a detailed complaint against Cole, Crisp and three of their ex-employees in September, two days before the FBI raids. The state’s complaint alleges the company deceived lenders to secure more than $12 million worth of home loans.
The next step is an administrative hearing, which could result in Cole and Crisp losing their licenses, agency spokesman Tom Pool said. The hearing date has yet to be set.
The charges show up on Cole’s public licensing record, Pool said, but he has a right to continue working in the field.
“It’s all about due process,” Pool said. “The whole judicial system, criminal and administrative, is based on the premise of innocent until proven guilty.”
The former Crisp & Cole company’s employees, family members and business associates have left a string of troubled properties behind.
As of Tuesday, more than $68.5 million worth of property loans taken out by Crisp & Cole associates have gone bad, an ongoing Californian tally found.
Most of the 109 affected properties are in the metro Bakersfield area. One is in Fresno County.
At least 83 properties have foreclosed so far, The Californian’s research shows.
The foreclosed properties have already lost lenders more than $14.8 million at public auction, a Californian analysis of foreclosure records found.