Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 18, 1992 TAG: 9202180265
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
LAKE DEVELOPER TO PAY RESTITUTION
Former Smith Mountain Lake developer Dwight L. Dean denies any criminal wrongdoing Monday in the unauthorized use of a property-owner group's checking account, but agreed to pay $5,000 in restitution.Dean, 49, said it would take at least two years for him to scratch together $5,000, an amount that his former land sales company once cleared in a single afternoon.
"I don't have any money, or I would have paid it today," said Dean, who lives in a trailer court in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and said he makes a living waxing cars.
In an unusual agreement, Franklin County prosecutors agreed ask the court to drop a grand larceny charge against Dean in connection with his role in developing a subdivision known as Lynville-on-the-Lake.
In return, Dean agreed to plead no contest to two misdemeanor counts for failing to build tennis courts and boat docks he and his partners had promised to Lynville lot buyers.
Circuit Judge B.A. Davis III found Dean guilty of the misdemeanors, ordered him to make restitution and gave him a suspended 12-month jail sentence.
Outside the courtroom, prosecutor Cliff Hapgood said he was satisfied with the plea agreement because it would have been difficult to convict Dean of the embezzlement charge.
Authorities allege that Dean and his partner, John R. Meteney, wrote more than $20,000 worth of unauthorized checks on the homeowners group account for work on the Lynville water system and for bills unrelated to the subdivision.
Evidence against Dean was limited because some of the most incriminating checks were written after Dean had left the area in early 1990, court records show.
After his departure, Meteney took control of the land sales company that oversaw the Lynville operation.
Meteney, who will be tried on a embezzlement charge on April 23, declined comment Monday from his home in Greensboro, N.C.
A third partner, Roanoke real estate agent Jay Deyerle, has not been charged in connection with Lynville.
Monday's plea agreement with Dean satisfied most Lynville property owners, who have struggled to repair the water system and upgrade the roads.
"You always wish you could have more," resident Terry Vlug said. "But then again, Mr. Dean has a criminal record, and that's more than he had yesterday. You have to take satisfaction from small victories.
"You could have gone to trial, but I think there was less than a 50 percent chance of convicting Mr. Dean. I think there's a better chance of convicting John Meteney."
Dean and Meteney were partners in a variety of ill-fated ventures at Smith Mountain Lake from 1986 to 1990.
Two of their companies, Developing World and Real-Vest Inc., sold hundreds of lots through direct-mail letters and high-pressure sales tactics.
Real-Vest went out of business in May 1990, a few months after media reports exposed the company's sales tactics and several customers filed fraud lawsuits.
Dean, a former IBM salesman, declined to be interviewed as he hurried for a back door of the Franklin County Courthouse to avoid TV cameras.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.