Plemons judgment, loan quiz, sets scribes scurrying

Chief Deputy's $13K scrape scrutinized

China Spring – Chief Deputy Randy Plemons of the McLennan County Sheriff's Department ran into some trouble with a home equity loan a few years ago.

He was $9,331.55 in the hole to Providian Bank on credit card debt he claimed as a billing dispute. After making a payment of $3,150, he never made any further effort to pay it off.

That's when Deputy John Kollinek served process of foreclosure on the Plemons couple, and when he returned the service, he noted on the paperwork that were no recoverable assets at the location of their residence in this city.

Deputy Kollinek was soon elevated to the status of Jail Captain following the retirement of Johnny Mynar.

At the time, Sheriff Larry Lynch made Deputy Plemons Chief Deputy. Shortly thereafter, the department de-emphasized its Civil Division, allowing the Constables and their Deputies to serve process and conduct the administrative duties of the courts in seizures, forfeitures and foreclosures, while retaining overall responsibility for the tasks outlined under the Texas Constitution.

The agreed judgment entered on March 19, 1999, called for payment of 23% per annum interest until that date and an additional 18% thereafter, plus reasonable attorney's fees of $3,110, plus 10% per annum interest until paid.

The Plemons entered into a Texas Home Equity Agreement with Full Spectrum Lending in June of 2000 on an extension of credit to satisfy this judgment. In January of 2010, they obtained an extension of credit from Hancock Mortgage Partners, LLC.

This paper trail has sent newsmen from broadcasting companies, publishers and opposition research firms in a steady parade to various offices of the McLennan County Courthouse to retrieve the facts.

There is much buzz in the legal, law enforcement, and financial communities, which are divided in their support of Deputy Plemons and retired U.S. Deputy Marshal Parnell McNamara in their bid for the GOP nomination. Bankers are said to generally favor Mr. Plemons, the law enforcement community is divided, and the lawyers aren't taking sides.

Deputy Plemons' Campaign Treasurer is Jim Hawkins, a former principal in the First City Financial Corporation, which packages non-productive residential and commercial mortgate-backed derivative securities and trades them on Wall Street.

Since that time, Mr. Hawkins has entered into various ventues in the 8-liner gambling business, taking liens on non-productive commercial properties in inner city areas of various central Texas cities, loaning the proprietors money to buy the gambling machines, and then intervening in the resulting forfeiture suits entered by the State of Texas after lawmen have raided the establishments. He obtained the right to foreclose on his liens and repossess his gambling machines for resale, walking away unindicted while his former partners faced criminal charges in State District Court.

Lawmen who have been monitoring the situation have kept close scrutiny of the Plemons' camp's ties to financial and gambling interests.

Mr. Hawkins reportedly obtained assistance from the Waco City management to dodge an indictment, according to one highly placed organized crime investigator with the State of Texas.

In the words of an experienced banker, the decision made by Deputy Kollinek that there were no recoverable assets at the Plemons residence was in error because he was acting as a Deputy of the Sheriff, and neither as an appraiser, nor an employee of the lender.

He said, off the record and with no attribution:

After clearing my head and maybe understanding the situation, if he defaulted on a home equity loan, read second lien, the lender should foreclose, providing it is not his homestead. If it is still a homstead, they can still foreclose if he is in default. If he is upside down, meaning the loan is more than the value of the property, they would just file their judgment, encumbering the property for ten years, and collecting if he sells and home values happen to rise. The deputy is not an employee of the lender, nor an appraiser, so after consideration of all of this, I concur with your original statement, that the property thus encumbered by a home equity loan is a recoverable asset.

When confronted with proof of the judgment and other court records by “The Legendary” investigative reporter R.S. Gates, Deputy Plemons said, simply, “If I was the person in those docuemnts, don't you think I would have hired a lawyer to take care of it?”