KC woman known for ‘rat house’ in Westwood Park faces up to 25 years in prison
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Kansas City ‘rat houses’
For years, neighbors fought the owner of a rat-infested house near the Country Club Plaza.
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Carol L. Dille, whose rat-infested yard in the Westwood Park section of Kansas City has for years been the bane of her neighbors, may soon be headed to prison. She now faces up to 25 years.
In a matter only tangentially related to what’s long been known by neighbors as the Westwood Park “rat house,” 67-year-old Dille on Friday pleaded guilty in federal court to two of seven charges levied against her by the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
The federal government in March charged Dille with three counts of wire fraud, one count of theft of government money, one count of identity theft and two counts of bankruptcy fraud, all related to what they claimed was Dille’s scheme to use her ex-husband’s name and information to fraudulently take his Social Security retirement money and deposit it in her own account. Dille originally pleaded not guilty to the charges.
But at an 11 a.m. proceeding Friday before District Judge Howard F. Sachs, as part of a plea bargain, Dille pleaded guilty to two charges, while five were dropped.
She pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud: Between September 2013 and October 2016, Dille used the name of her former husband, Gerald Sanders, to take $76,000 of his Social Security retirement benefits.
She also pleaded guilty to a single count of bankruptcy fraud, depositing the money in a United Missouri Bank account under the name of the “Alliance of Divine Love Chapel 1202.” The address of the chapel, 4933 Westwood Road, is that of one of two houses Dille owns side by side in Westwood Park, a neighborhood of numerous $300,000 to $500,000 homes southwest of the Country Club Plaza.
Her bungalow next door, at 4937, is the home where neighbors say Dille has long fed and cultivated sewer rats and other rodents. Dill maintains she is simply a naturalistic gardener who loves all wildlife.
In court, Dille admitted to being the only one who had access to the Divine Love Chapel bank account. She also agreed in court that she used the money for her own purposes and, as part of a recent bankruptcy filing, purposefully and fraudulently did not disclose the account on her application.
The maximum prison sentence on the wire fraud count is 20 years and a fine of $250,000. The bankruptcy fraud sentence is five years maximum and an additional $250,000, for a total maximum of 25 years and $500,000.
Dille was allowed to leave the courthouse on her own recognizance. Sentencing has been scheduled 120 days hence, in late May or early June. Judges have broad latitude in sentencing and fines. Although Dille faces a maximum of 25 years, serving such a lengthy sentence would be unusual.
In the plea agreement, defense attorney Travis Poindexter and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Courtney Pratten suggested following guidelines that would call for a prison sentence of 57 to 71 months — or about five to six years. The judge, nonetheless, has discretion to increase or decrease that sentence as he sees fit.
Hearings in which defendants change their plea rarely bring out spectators. Four of Dille’s neighbors sat in the gallery. Their prime desire, they said, was not to see Dille go to prison. They did hope that whatever fine was levied against her might simply be enough to force her to sell her properties in Westwood Park and take the problem of rats with her. (She also owns houses in Brookside and Bates City in Johnson County, Missouri.)
Neighbors have complained about rats crawling from Dille’s yard since at least the year 2000. City inspectors and police have been summoned but had little enforcement powers.Neighbors most recently saw rats skittering over and beneath the fence from Dille’s yard last fall.
“On one level, I’m always concerned about someone facing a prison sentence, let alone an extended prison sentence,” said neighbor Mike Posten, who said he has found his yard invaded by rats that have crawled over from Dille’s yard. “But this had to do with the consequences of her behavior. … We are not gloating about this.”
Ann Nixon, a Realtor who is also vice president of the Westwood Park Homes Association, was more direct:
“All we want is what we have always wanted — to get rid of the rats.”
This story was originally published January 31, 2020 at 4:17 PM.
