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Former Eagle Mountain mayoral candidate Richard Culbertson will serve up to 15 years in prison for fraudulently obtaining several home loans, and his wife, Kathleen, will spend 60 days in jail.
Judge James Taylor handed down the sentences Thursday in Provo's 4th District Court. Neither the Utah Attorney General's Office, which prosecuted the case, nor Adult Probation and Parole recommended prison time for Richard. But considering Richard's role as a licensed Realtor and the nature of the mortgage and housing markets, which rely more than most industries on the credibility and reliability of the people involved, Taylor said he felt Richard's culpability warranted a more serious sentence than jail.
"This kind of a crime, besides the fact that tremendous amounts of money were taken, is harmful to that market, and it is compounded in this case because of your knowledge, your particular training and position," Taylor said.
Richard pleaded guilty to three counts of communications fraud and one count of pattern of unlawful activity, all felonies. Kathleen pleaded to the same charges as misdemeanors. She will have to complete 24 months of probation after she is released from the Utah County Jail.
In addition to their time behind bars, the couple will have to pay nearly $1.2 million in restitution to cover the fraudulently obtained loans they used to purchase homes. Those homes have been foreclosed on, and any proceeds from their sale will be credited toward the Culbertsons' restitution. Defense attorney Greg Skordas said he believed the two homes could fetch as much as $900,000. One will be auctioned on Aug. 29.
As part of the Culbertsons' plea deal, prosecutor Neal Gunnarson had agreed not to ask for prison time, and a pre-sentencing report from APP did not recommend it. Skordas said he and Gunnarson had discussed having Richard's charges reduced to misdemeanors if he successfully completed his sentence, but with him going to prison, that may not be possible any more.
"If you send him to prison, he's a convicted felon for life," Skordas said to Taylor.
In urging Taylor not to send Richard to prison, Skordas pointed out that the Culbertsons have two teenage children, including a diabetic 15-year-old daughter. If both Richard and Kathleen were sentenced to jail, Skordas suggested that the couple could serve their sentences at different times so that one parent would be able to care for the children.
While Kathleen is in jail, both parents will be behind bars, but Skordas said the couple anticipated the possibility that they would serve time simultaneously and made arrangements for someone to care for their children while they are away.
"They could see the writing on the wall," Skordas said after the hearing. "I think the state was trying to make an example of them."
Skordas said Richard will likely spend less than two years in prison. He was detained immediately after the hearing for transport to the prison.
The Culbertsons pleaded guilty to their charges after being accused of using the names of Ashley and Nathan Barnum, their daughter and son-in-law, to obtain several home loans and of inflating their income on the loan applications by more than $10,000 a month. Richard said he and his wife have not talked with their daughter since the charges were filed last year, and their relationship with her has been strained.
"This was never intended as an outcome. What happened was a huge mistake, not using my training and skills to really see through something," Richard said. "I did wrong. I profited from it."
Richard Culbertson was a mayoral candidate in Eagle Mountain in 2007. He was defeated by Heather Jackson.
• Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or
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