Where Most Needed

Charities gain from being exempt from local property tax, but one unexpected consequence is that they might have their land sold out from under them without their knowledge.  In Chicago, churches are waking up to find that a serial con man has been selling church-owned real estate in rapidly gentrifying sections of the city.  Phillip Radmer is a disbarred attorney from Berwyn who appears to be connected to the sales.  Cook County state's attorney Dick Devine is investigating. 

The process involved forged board of directors resolutions that approved a sale to a fictitious buyer, and then the property would be transferred to a company controlled by Mr. Radmer. 

The victimized churches include First Presbyterian Church of Chicago and the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church. 

The office of Mayor Richard M. Daley is contacting ministers and urging them to check their church property records, the only way that a church could know whether their land has been tampered with. 

Apparently Mr. Radmer has an extensive operation that involves over 90 businesses and churches.  The same fictitious names appear on many of the church documents, according to the investigative report in the Chicago Tribune by Robert Becker and Ray Gibson that broke the story Sunday (with more here).