5/6/2010
PROPERTY CRIMES at 5701 E El Camino Quinto, Apache Junction
PROPERTY CRIMES at 5701 E El Camino Quinto, Apache Junction
This investigation is being conducted on behalf of victim, Danny E. Hicks, by his attorney-in-fact and nephew, J. Edward Petrik, with the support of family. As Danny’s attorney-in-fact with Durable Power of Attorney, I am authorized to act freely on Danny’s behalf.
Danny, 61 years old, a former officer working for Arizona’s D.O.C. with no criminal record until Theresa Carole Wirth and her mother, Juanita Morley, got rid of his two best friends – his two dogs – one day while he was at work, and then proceeded to defraud him of his entire life savings. He met Wirth in January 2008 and spent his first night in jail on 12/14/2008 for pointing an unarmed gun at an intruder in his house and ordering him to get out. Danny had just realized that the scam had wiped out his retirement savings and left him with a massive debt. Amazingly, this wasn’t enough, as Wirth and her family proceeded to try to extort Danny’s remaining interest in the property at 5701 E El Camino Quinto, as he sat in protective segregation in the DOC where he once worked. Danny did not sign over the house, and he ended up receiving 3.5 years rather than the recommended probation he had hoped for…
Danny E. Hicks
DOB: 1/14/1948
ADC#: 244610
Incarcerated: 12/15/08-12/23/08, 12/31/08–Present
ASPC–Lewis / Eagle Point Unit, #5D3
P.O. Box 3500
Buckeye, AZ 85326
COIII: Ms. V. Munoz
Email: vmunoz@azcorrections.gov
Ph: 623-386-6160, Ext. 4320 (Eagle Point Unit)
Fax: 623-327-0413
PROPERTY
5701 E El Camino Quinto, Apache Junction, AZ 85219
Deed of Trust, Instrument #: 2008-052606, Pinal County, AZ
Dan Hicks is the SOLE “trustor” on the mortgage
Trustee is Recontrust, 1-800-669-0102
Loan Number: 184493799
TRUSTEE’S SALE - 5/6/2010 @ 11:00am
Superior Court Bldg, 971 Jason Lopez Circle, Bldg A, Florence, AZ 85232
SUSPECTS
Theresa Carole Wirth, DOB: 2/15/1955
Jeffrey James "Jay" Lanpher, DOB: 6/5/1956
Juanita Carole "Nita" Morley, DOB: 12/4/1936
Current Address: 3351 S. Silly Mountain Rd. Apache Junction, AZ 85119
Phone Numbers: 480-208-2979, 480-326-3224
* Juanita is the biological mother of Theresa and Jeffrey
She lives across the street at 5700 E El Camino Quinto, Apache Junction, AZ
NARRATIVE by J. Edward Petrik
On 3/12/2010, I received a phone call from Jan Petrik, sister to Danny Hicks, who had been following up on some questionable ATM card usage on Danny Hicks's Wells Fargo account that involved checks that had been drafted by State Farm Insurance to Danny Hicks. Jan had called to inform me about a visit to Danny Hicks's house at 5701 E El Camino Quinto in Apache Junction, made by Nancy J. Davis, the state farm representative with whom she had been in touch and who knew Danny personally and empathized with his current situation.
On the evening of 3/11/2010, Nancy discovered that Danny's house had been emptied of all of its contents. Nancy's knock on the front door alerted a large dog that filled the empty house with echoes of loud barking. She also observed a Notice of Trustee's Sale that had been taped to the front door. She found no human occupants at this time, so she took a few pictures of the house and then proceeded to call Pinal County Animal Control the next morning to report the abandoned dog. (Activity Card #: A10-015550-1).
Around that same day, neighbors who lived on the street and who happened to be conducting business at State Farm told her several stories about the recent occupants of 5701 and 5700 E El Camino Quinto - Theresa Wirth, Jeffrey Lanpher, Juanita "Nita" Morley and Fred Morley III - and about the general disdain shared by the rest of the neighborhood directed toward the newcomers - complaints of constant traffic caused by Wirth's guests/customers (she sells dogs), widespread and general disrespect displayed toward their neighbors, Fred Morley shouting threats and curses at neighbors. The family acted very clannish and gypsie-like, and they moved in acting like they owned the street.
One neighbor who reported the "Wirth family" was Tom Kelly of First Choice Glass, who lives in the house directly next door to 5701 and had watched Wirth and her family dismantle and strip the house that Mr. Hicks had worked on so hard to remodel and develop, but that now was in the process of foreclosure. Tom had seen quite a bit of activity over the preceding few months and reported to Nancy and later to me that the kennels and sheds built by Mr. Hicks had been ripped up and removed, leaving plumbing and power cables protruding from the ground in the back yard, a newly-built patio had been ripped out as well along with some of the tile, the trim on the windows and doors (on the back of the house only) had been partially painted with gaudy/non-cohesive colors, the side of the house had become a dump, the two new custom-built wood-iron gates Mr. Hicks had built for the new block wall he had installed were removed, all outdoor lighting was missing, including a large lamp-post that was pulled out of the ground by the driveway along with a newly planted tree, no mailbox, etc. The only remaining household items were blinds covering all of the windows.
Oddly, the house address number had also been removed from high up on the roof of the carport. Tom reported that the foreclosure notice had been taken off the front door not long after Nancy left on 3/11/2010. About two weeks later, he alerted Nancy when he saw Wirth show up at the property with two large trucks. Boggled by what else she could possibly tear out and concerned that she would damage the house even further, Tom reported the situation to Nancy and myself. Nancy got word first and called the Pinal County Sheriff's Office to report the theft. PCSO Incident#: 100325032, responding officer Deputy R. Tucker, unit 1A7.
PCSO Incident#: 100325043 refers to a related incident the was called in about an hour later and that was also handled by Deputy R. Tucker, unit 1A7.
Prior to hearing the news of the theft and house-stripping on 3/12/2010, I had already planned a trip to Arizona to arrange for the moving and storage of Danny's property that should have remained in/at/om the house - personal belongings, such as all of his clothing, nearly EVERY furnishing in the house, and all of the outdoor house fixtures that have been mentioned thus far. I recall that Danny said that the only piece of furniture that Wirth brought to the house was an old desk that had been almost completely destroyed in a fire. Danny purchased his own office desk setup and allowed Wirth to use it so that the old burnt desk could be retired. Danny states that most of the furniture and appliances were bought brand new prior to moving into the house in June 2008.
It should be emphasized that this house was purchased solely because of its favorable characteristics and spacious back yard that would allow for the development of the dog breeding business in which Danny agreed to partner with Wirth. They had discussed building kennels in Danny's back yard on his modest property in Queen Valley, but Wirth assured him that based on her years of experience, the back yard was much too small.
It should further be emphasized that although a romantic relationship had occurred for a short period (2/2008 - 7/2008), Danny and Wirth were never married. Danny paid for everything with his own money.
Progress is still being made in identifying stolen property and locating proofs of purchase, but it appears that Wirth has made off with nearly $50,000 of property. This does not include the losses incurred due to the stripping of the house. Evidence suggests that Wirth and her family are engaged in a plan to commit an even greater degree of defrauding a secured creditor that may involve rigging the public auction of the house on May 6th, 2010 at 11:00am. It appears that the house has been artificially depreciated by their efforts, and Wirth being "staged" close-by up the road, would make for an easy move back to the house.
On 4/7/2010, I arrived in Apache Junction and confirmed what Nancy and Tom had reported. I spoke with Mark, who lived next door to the Morleys. He pointed out the missing address numbers and warned me about Fred Morley. In addition to pictures of 5701 E El Camino Quinto, I also took photos of 3351 S. Silly Mountain Rd., Apache Junction - a property 2.5 miles up the road on to which Wirth has moved her dog business. The photos follow in this report.
Tom Kelly - owner of First Choice Auto Glass, lives at 5715 E El Camino Quinto, 480-983-1151, work: 480-980-3195
Mark - lives next door to Theresa Wirth’s mother and step father, Juanita “Nita” Lanpher & Fred Morley III of 5700 E El Camino Quinto, and reports to Petrik that he has been threatened by Fred Morley on at least one occasion. He suspects that the Morleys had been rifling through the glove boxes of his trucks looking for his last name to pursue an Injunction Against Harassment. It should be noted that Ms. Wirth has been involved in an astonishing number of court cases, including Injunction & Protection Orders, fraud, property disputes, and cases related to 12 previous marriages that have all ended in divorce or annulment.
3/25/2010, PCSO Incident#: 100325043 - Mark was erroneously blamed by Wirth and the Morleys for the preceding CAD call to PCSO an hour earlier due to Tom and Nancy's efforts. Wirth reported Mark for harassment, and according to the CAD call notes, Wirth states she’s “out of town” despite being "in town" only an hour earlier according to PCSO Incident #: 100325032
