Founder and president of the 3% of Idaho group was arrested by the Idaho State Police Tuesday and charged with nineteen counts of grand theft.
Brandon Curtiss, 43, of Payette, is charged with collecting rent payments on behalf of property owners through his businesses, the Curtiss Property Management Company and the Liberty Property Management Company, and then “refusing to release the rent money back to the property owners,” said Ada County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Shelley Akamatsu.
The complaint alleges that, between 2013 and 2016, Curtiss wrongfully withheld some $87,000 of rent payments he collected from nineteen property owners who were his clients.
In early 2016, Curtiss filed for bankruptcy. He claimed $235,000 in debts and said he had assets of only $13,230, according to the Idaho Statesman.
The property owners filed complaints with both the Idaho State Police and the State Attorney General’s Office, claiming Curtiss owed them money.
Curtiss was booked into the Ada County Jail and is being held on a $150,000 bond, pending his arraignment.
Prosecutors say the maximum sentence on each count of grand theft is fourteen years in prison.
