Arrested Again

SFGN has learned that Wilton Manors realtor Denny Patrick Hughes has been re-arrested on grand theft charges, along with an organized conspiracy to defraud at least nine of his realty clients.

The State Attorney's office of Broward County issued a new warrant for his arrest, and Hughes posted a $58,000 bond on March 30, and now faces a first degree felony charge of an organized scheme to defraud, six counts of grand theft in the second degree, and three counts of grand theft in the third degree.

Hughes defended himself against these new allegations.

"Unfortunately the detective didn't do his due diligence...it'll all come out in trial. I'm trying to rebuild my life and move past this. I did not steal anyone's money," he wrote in an email to SFGN.

While Hughes claims "the state attorney's office has done nothing but repackage the prior charges," the new criminal case lists eight additional victims not previously named in his original arrest in December of 2009. That arrest was for one count of grand theft, and listed Ronald Boyle of New York as the victim.

The eight new alleged victims include:

Paul Warner of Wilton Manors; Jeremy Ferderber of Fort Lauderdale; Luis Benevides of Coral Gables; Linda Faichney of Lauderhill; John Burke of Port St. Lucie; Elizabeth Ellis of Oakland Park; Rochelle Flint of Boynton Beach; and Kenneth Wilbanks of Fort Lauderdale.

According to the police report acquired from the Broward County Clerk's office, Hughes allegedly defrauded the nine victims out of a total sum of $234,780. The probable cause affidavit, leading to Hughes' new arrest, states:

"During the above stated time frame the defendant, acting as a real estate agent/broker working on behalf of the listed victims, did engage in a systematic ongoing course of conduct with the intent to defraud said victims. Defendant did this by representing the victims in their attempt to purchase real estate and in doing so obtained from each various amounts of money to be deposited into his escrow accounts. In each instance the funds were intended by the victims to be used for the purchase of a home and were to be applied towards that purchase at the time of closing."

Some of the accusations include Hughes "showing a victim a home that was not even for sale and accepting his escrow deposit despite that fact, defendant's intention to "flip" the home at closing thus presenting a contract to a victim at a higher price than what was asked for by the bank and accepting escrow funds based on the inflated price, accepting escrow funds from a victim when he did not even prepare a contract, and a general disassociation with the victims after obtaining their money."

The investigation was conducted and the report was prepared by Fort Lauderdale Police Department Economic Crimes Unit Detective Michael Grassi.

Even after these new accusations, Hughes said he's not concerned.

"I'm not worried..you realize half the clients' escrow checks bounced - we were never holding their money," Hughes wrote.

At least one person is coming to Hughes' defense -- his current employer, Vincent Clancy of DaVinci Realty Group, in Wilton Manors.

"Remember people are innocent until proven guilty in this country. He is employed at my company as an assistant and has shown to be very competent in his duties," Clancy wrote in an email to Publisher Norm Kent, warning SFGN not to publish "yet another story" about Hughes.

Clancy's threat, copied to the Florida Agenda and private attorneys included an admonition that "Hughes will have my full financial support should he decide to take any legal action against you or your paper."

Editor's Note: Kent, a criminal defense attorney, had previously represented Hughes in 2009 on a motion to terminate probation, in an unrelated domestic matter dating back to 2006. Kent stated that he considered his representation irrelevant to the newsworthy nature of the new predicament Hughes finds himself in.