The guilty plea of Libertyville real estate broker Linda Frykholm ended a bizarre criminal saga, but another chapter-one that is likely to be wrenching for many of her victims-is about to begin.
Scores of civil suits involving hundreds of homes and other properties were on hold awaiting the result of the criminal charges. Now, dozens of creditors are likely to begin what amounts to a legal feeding frenzy over the assets of Frykholm, who is awaiting sentencing in the far-flung real estate scam.
Moreover, dozens of other people who thought they owned their own home, or were paying rent to Frykholm, remain in limbo, unsure whether they will be allowed to stay or how long it will take to unravel the complicated trail of false documents and forged signatures that Frykholm used to defraud the investors.
“In my eyes, I think she should serve one year for each family she destroyed,” said Theresa Paschen, a 32-year-old baker who bought a house in Round Lake Beach from Frykholm in March 1992. “I know that it’s going to take us more than a year to get out of this situation.”
Paschen and her fiance, Bob Hughes, were evicted from the house in March and they moved into a home across the street. As recently as two weeks ago, said Paschen, Frykholm assured her that she did not have to worry about getting her money back.
“She still kept saying, `The money is on the way. Everything is going to work out,’ ” said Paschen.
That seems unlikely now.
The next legal chapter, scheduled to start Friday in the courtroom of Lake County Judge Peter Trobe, will feature dozens of litigants making claims on the 45-year-old Frykholm’s assets. But, said her lawyer, Gregory Gann: “She has no assets. It’s a mess. It’s a mess.”
Since the first of the year, Gann has watched an avalanche of more than 30 lawsuits pile up in Lake County against Frykholm, a 45-year-old Libertyville real estate dealer, housewife, and mother of two who pleaded guilty last week to three counts of theft and three counts of forgery in an agreement worked out before Judge Raymond McKoski. She faces up to 10 years in prison when she appears for sentencing on Sept. 29.
One of those plaintiffs to appear in court Friday will be Commercial Mortgage and Finance Co. of Rockford, according to attorney David Hazan. Commercial Mortgage is seeking foreclosure on mortgages for a dozen pieces of property Frykholm holds title to or has an interest in, Hazan said. Frykholm owes about $2.4 million on those loans, Hazan said.
Last week, Frykholm admitted to forging the name of Robert Hogfeldt, president of Commercial Mortgage in 1993 on a release deed to show she had clear title to a home at 139 Butterfield Lane, Libertyville, which Commercial Mortgage owned.
She then resold that home as part of a series of properties she sold to Joseph Mill, a Chicago investor, in 1994, even though she didn’t own the dwelling, prosecutors said. In that scheme, she defrauded Mill of $268,000, prosecutors said. Mill is also suing Frykholm. Altogether, he said, he lost $400,000 in investments with Frykholm.
“I’ll be very pleasantly surprised if I see a nickel,” said Mill, a Chicago psychological counselor. “The lawyers will have the money, and the victims will have some satisfaction. Maybe.”
Another of Frykholm’s criminal victims, Herky’s Trucking of Libertyville, is suing her in civil court. In her plea last week, she admitted defrauding Herky’s of more than $100,000 in 1992 by forging the name of Jack Herchenbach, Herky’s owner, on a release deed to show she had paid off a $225,000 mortgage loan from Herky’s and had clear title to her home at 235 W. Cook Ave., Libertyville.
The trucking firm operator might have to wait in line, however.
There are currently more than five mortgages totaling about $500,000 on the home at 235 W. Cook Ave., Libertyville, that Linda Frykholm owns with her husband, Paul, according to Gann. While Paul Frykholm is listed on some half-dozen of the suits, he had no part in his wife’s financial machinations, according to Gann.
Paul Frykholm declined to comment.
Gann said that both of the Frykholms are doing all they can to satisfy their creditors, but he added, “I guarantee you that they will run out of money.”
As part of that effort to satisfy their creditors, Gann said, the Frykholms will soon list their stately Libertyville home for sale for about $500,000, or about enough to pay off the mortgages.
Whatever restitution Frykholm can make would likely benefit her when she comes up for sentencing later this month before Judge McKoski.
McKoski altered the terms of the bond to allow her to get psychiatric treatment at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, rather than being locked up in the Lake County Jail.
But after she pleaded guilty last Wednesday, Frykholm told her attorneys that she wanted to be taken to the County Jail.
The reason: She could no longer afford the treatment and wanted to save the money for restitution.
