Infamous KC real estate con man who masterminded $19M fraud in 1990s arrested again
A Kansas City-area real estate fraudster who authorities said masterminded a $19.6 million scheme that devastated low-income neighborhoods more than a decade ago has been arrested again.
Brent Barber, 54, of Peculiar, was charged with forgery in Jackson County. His arrest comes after he was sentenced in 2006 to more than 12 years in prison in a case the FBI considered one of its most significant successes in the national fight against mortgage fraud.
At the time, Barber told a judge: “I shall try to be a living example to others to want less and be happy for what they have.”
Instead, Barber was arrested Thursday by the U.S. Marshals Service at the federal courthouse in downtown Kansas City, according to KCUR, which first reported the news. He appeared in court and a judge ordered that a federal public defender be appointed to represent him.
Barber’s prison sentence expired in May 2016. He was placed on three years of supervised release.
In his new charge, prosecutors accused Barber of purchasing nearly 80 used vehicles from a City of Kansas City tow lot under the guise of being a dealership agent, and then selling them from an unlicensed lot in Grandview, according to court records.
The 78 vehicles totaled about $34,000 in value.
In a probable cause statement, a Missouri Highway Patrol corporal said Barber advertised the vehicles on websites such as Craigslist and transferred them to unsuspecting consumers. Barber was able to launder the purchase and sale without notice because he claimed affiliation with various dealers, charging documents show.
“Consumers are often left without recourse after purchasing a salvage vehicle from what they thought was a legitimate business,” the corporal, Nate Bradley, wrote in the statement. Barber, he said, “engaged in a scheme to defraud” consumers.
The investigation began after the highway patrol received consumer complaints.
Barber showed and sold the vehicles from an unlicensed lot at 519 Blue Ridge Boulevard in Grandview, authorities said. None of the vehicles received safety inspections, according to court records.
At the lot, for example, a woman bought a 2004 GM Envoy for $1,400, the highway patrol said. She watched the man who identified himself as Brent Barber sign the back of the Kansas title as “Ed White,” something she confronted him about, according to the probable cause statement.
Barber assured her the sale was legit, according to court documents.
But soon after, she began to experience mechanical issues, something she told Barber about, authorities said. He then provided her with a 2002 Ford Taurus, but when she was stopped by police, she could not provide proof of ownership. The Taurus was impounded.
The corporal talked with Barber in July 2017, telling him he needed to obtain a Missouri dealers license and a salvage business license, according to court records. The consumer complaints continued.
Barber continued to buy and sell vehicles, purchasing numerous cars from the Lee’s Summit Volkswagen dealership, court records show.
During the investigation, the highway patrol discovered Barber’s previous conviction in the “complicated mortgage fraud scheme” and realized he could not have a dealer’s license in the state. He was charged in late April.
Barber’s listed attorney in the forgery case could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.
Barber is infamous in the Kansas City area for his previous conviction.
A Belton real estate investor at the time, Barber was accused of purchasing about 300 properties, buying inflated appraisals for them and obtaining straw purchasers, who were paid $2,000 for participating. After the straw purchasers made no loan payments, the properties went into foreclosure, The Star previously reported. By then Barber had the mortgage proceeds.
The scheme often devastated the buyers’ credit and left lenders hesitant to offer mortgages to other buyers. More than 100 of the houses were located several blocks on either side of Prospect Avenue, from roughly 19th to 73rd streets.
When Barber was sentenced in October 2006, he was ordered to pay $11.2 million in restitution. He had been indicted in 2004 for deals dating back to the late 1990s.
Prosecutors at the time described the case — involving three indictments, more than 100 federal felonies and about 300 homes — as the biggest mortgage fraud ever prosecuted in western Missouri.
“This defendant tore through low-income neighborhoods like a hurricane, wreaking financial havoc on individual victims and financial institutions, and leaving behind a devastating trail of residential blight,” U.S. Attorney Brad Schlozman said at the time.
Another prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Parker Marshall, argued for a sentence of more than 15 years, saying “fraud was a way of life for Mr. Barber.”
“It was his livelihood and he trained others in his methods so they could follow in his footsteps,” Marshall said. “It is obvious that Mr. Barber is addicted to fraud.”
Barber asked for forgiveness from his victims — mortgage lenders and dozens of investors — and appeared remorseful for the greed that drove him to crime.
This story was originally published May 9, 2019 at 7:34 PM.
