Advertisement
Developer Robert Stone, the Clark resident facing criminal charges of fraud and theft in Missouri and Oklahoma, has defaulted on a loan from NASCAR star Carl Edwards Jr. that will result in the sale of a Sturgeon property on the steps of the Boone County Courthouse.
Robert Stone
The sale of the office building at 107 N. Ogden St. to satisfy a $75,000 promissory note to Stone from Edwards is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Stone listed the storefront property among his assets in an application for a $1.5 million line of credit offered in November 2007 by First Capital Bank of Kingfisher, Okla.
The U.S. Western District Court of Oklahoma last year entered a judgment of $2.2 million against Stone for defrauding the Oklahoma bank. The accusations upheld in the civil matter are at the heart of a dozen felony charges against Stone in Randolph County and criminal charges in Kingfisher and Logan counties in Oklahoma.
Stone is one of four members of Nighthawk Development and Junction Development Group, the company that proposed a 440-acre auto racing and entertainment venue for the junction of Highways 63 and 22 near Clark. The company also includes Carl Edwards Sr., a Columbia attorney. Randolph County court records show that last summer the younger Edwards paid off the balance of a $540,000 loan from Premier Bank for 143 acres of the development’s property.
Premier sued the development group for defaulting on the loan.
A first deed of trust and security agreement between Edwards Jr. and Stone, dated May 12, 2009, presented the Ogden Street property as collateral for a $75,000 loan that was to be repaid in 12 months at 7 percent interest.
“I’m not going to comment on any of it,” Stone said last week.
J. Turner Jones of Jones, Schneider and Stevens LLC, appointed as trustee of the deed of trust, also declined to comment. Attempts to reach Edwards through his publicist, Randy Fuller of Roush Fenway Racing, were unsuccessful.
Court documents show Stone purchased the Ogden Street property in February 2008 for $54,000 with funds from the line of credit granted to Chisholm Trail Construction, a company Stone co-owns with Terry Kutcher of Cashion, Okla. Kutcher has filed a $900,000 lawsuit seeking damages from Stone.
Former business partner Tony Stuart of Moberly is especially interested in the sale of 107 N. Ogden because Stuart is looking to rid himself of two tax liens against Stone that are keeping him from selling another property. Stuart paid $89,000 and Stone paid $10,000 three years ago for another property they wanted to subdivide near Clark. Stone signed the property over to Stuart last November, just two days before felony charges were filed against Stone in Randolph County.
Stuart said he wanted to sell the property to recoup some of his losses that he said were a result of being in business with Stone. Among other things, Stuart has a $44,000 mechanic’s lien against Stone in connection with the failed Fairhaven subdivision south of Sturgeon.
Stuart recently had a $70,000 contract to sell the Clark property, but a title search revealed $66,000 in tax liens against Stone that were attached to the property.
“It’s shame on me for not doing due diligence,” Stuart said. “I just had no reason to believe the federal government would have a lien on it, so that’s my fault.”
Stuart was an original member of Nighthawk Development but left the group “because I had a disagreement with Robert Stone. We didn’t see eye to eye on some things.”
Stuart, however, signed a nondisclosure agreement that limits what he can say about Nighthawk and Junction Development. “I’m going to get my payback here one of these days,” he said.
Reach Jodie Jackson Jr. at 573-815-1713 or e-mail jjackson@columbiatribune.com.
Copyright 2011 Columbia Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
