Mark Ponder's death appears accidental
| Thursday, Jul 23 2009 11:24 AM
Last Updated Thursday, Jul 23 2009 06:48 PM
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Jenn Ireland / The Californian A billboard advertising Mark Ponder's real estate business sits on the south side of Rosedale Highway just west of the Gibson Street intersection.
Jenn Ireland / The Californian A billboard advertising Mark Ponder's real estate business sits on the south side of Rosedale Highway just west of the Gibson Street intersection.
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Mark Ponder was last seen alive Monday morning. Things weren’t going well for him.
He was supposed to meet with sheriff’s deputies that afternoon about allegations he’d hit a man on the head with a beer bottle early Sunday morning.
Looming the following week was a hearing with state real estate regulators. They wanted to revoke or suspend the Bakersfield broker’s license because he hadn’t disclosed three drunk-driving convictions in a renewal application.
Then there was an environmental lawsuit against a 610-acre development he owned off Famoso Road. A court meeting July 10 called for filings due next month, leading up to a December hearing.
Ponder never showed up for Monday’s sheriff’s meeting.
Wednesday morning, a jogger saw him floating in the Kern River around noon. His body was clad only in shorts.
The 38-year-old’s unexpected death so far bears no indications of foul play, a Thursday morning autopsy found. Coroners say his death was accidental, perhaps a drowning, but the cause won’t be known for weeks or months when toxicology results become available.
The owner-broker of Westchester Realty on F Street was a familiar face to most locals — even if they’d never met him — from billboards he placed around town for years. Some featured an earnest face shot, one eyebrow arched, and an enigmatic smile.
Bakersfield attorney Seth O’Dell was representing Ponder in the sheriff’s case. He’d hoped Monday’s meeting would result in dropped charges.
O’Dell said Thursday he was the spokesman for Ponder’s family, who wished to maintain their privacy.
“His family is deeply grieved over the loss of someone very close and dear to them,” O’Dell said.
Some friends were upset by local media’s inclusion of Ponder’s criminal convictions.
Erica Vallejo and her father Kent Greer, whose family owns a business that often worked with Ponder, said in an e-mail “establishing a history of criminal activity to the grieving community is irresponsible and unprofessional!”
Patricia Tate and her husband were also upset.
Ponder had for six years been a mentor who “was always willing to help whenever I had a problem with real estate,” Tate said. “He was just a good person all around.”
Friends and foes alike acknowledged Ponder’s well-known enthusiasm for partying.
That colorful past may have threatened his career.
An accusation by the Department of Real Estate filed March 11 said Ponder’s failure to disclose misdemeanor convictions in 2008, 2005 and 2004 constituted “fraud, misrepresentation, or deceit” and created cause to deny his license renewal.
Tom Pool, the department’s spokesman, said an early June administrative hearing in Sacramento had been postponed until July 30. The hearings function much like court trials and can result in license suspension or revocation. Ponder’s attorney in the matter, Mary Work, did not return a call seeking comment.
Ponder was also tax-delinquent on several properties, including the 610-acre site where he planned to build 30 ranchettes, as well as his real estate office. He was behind more than $70,000 in all, according to Jordan Kaufman, assistant treasurer-tax collector with the county.
But the delinquencies aren’t necessarily proof of financial trouble, Kaufman said; some developers make a strategic decision to stop paying property taxes. The department doesn’t place liens, but simply waits five years and then sells the land if taxes remain unpaid.
Ponder’s death remains under investigation by the Bakersfield Police Department.
