Man who sold Volusia swamp land pleads to fraud
Ormond Beach missionary admits no wrongdoing; gets 15 years' probation
BY JAY STAPLETON, STAFF WRITER 
Kelly
DELAND -- An Ormond Beach man who sold unbuildable swampland to dozens of people will avoid prison in a plea agreement reached with statewide prosecutors.
James A. Kelly, 41, pleaded no contest to organized fraud. The agreement took months to hash out. The matter of paying back some of the buyers remains pending.
Kelly, a poker-playing missionary who travels to Haiti often, denied he did anything wrong. Avoiding up to 30 years in prison by accepting the deal, he was placed on 15 years of probation, his lawyer, Peyton Quarles, said. The probation could be cut short if Kelly pays back the land buyers who want their money back.
A hearing will be held in December to decide how much of the reported $2.4 million in land sales Kelly's company took in will be returned.
"Mr. Kelly and his family adamantly denied any wrongdoing," Quarles added. "The possibility of what might happen at trial and the desire to end this 2 1/2- or three-year prosecution resulted in his decision to enter the plea."
Kelly's was the latest chapter in an old Florida story of so-called paper subdivisions. The areas were subdivided into lots in the 1960s and '70s but never surveyed or developed.
Starting in 2005, Kelly bought more than 1,200 acres in the vast water recharge areas east of DeLand, in tracts of wetlands called University Highlands and Cape Atlantic.
Over the next year, Kelly sold more than two dozen of the parcels over the Internet, mostly to immigrants from Haiti and other people from South Florida.
Kelly was arrested in 2008 on charges accusing him of tricking the buyers into buying the land by presenting it as buildable.
From the beginning, the case against Kelly was met with legal challenges.
Authorities in 2007 moved to seize $178,000 in cars from Kelly's home, claiming he bought the Hummer, Dodge Viper and other autos with money from illegal land sales.
But Kelly won his property back in court. "The nexus to any criminal activity which could have resulted in any forfeiture was extremely tenuous," Quarles said. "And the prosecutors realized that."
The Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution marched on with its effort to get a conviction and prison sentence for Kelly.
In court, prosecutors accused Kelly of using his website to drum up more than $2.4 million in sales, meeting purchasers on U.S. 92.
Records show one buyer, Beata Jeune of Spring Valley, N.Y., paid Kelly $32,000 for 5 acres. The land was only worth $2,500, according to the Volusia County property appraiser.
But one key weakness in the case may have been a lack of outrage by a large group of the buyers. On Tuesday, Quarles put it this way:
"The most interesting aspect of the case was that none of the purchasers complained about their transactions. It wasn't until someone from out of state contacted FDLE about the quality and possible use of the land that the matter was investigated."
As part of the plea deal, Kelly was ordered not to be involved with any real estate sales, other than a home for his family, or to sell the swampland, as long as the victims get the money. If he sold the land, the buyer would have to know it is unbuildable.
Kelly must complete 100 hours of community service. Any violation of the terms of probation could result in Kelly going to prison. He was ordered to pay $3,600 to the Office of Statewide Prosecution. Another $52,873 was ordered to be paid to FDLE for the cost of investigation.
Kelly must also make a payment of $4,300 to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for use of a helicopter that flew over the properties during the investigation.
Prosecutors said they would not oppose early termination of the probation if all those seeking restitution get paid. A restitution hearing will be held Dec. 16 before Circuit Judge Randell H. Rowe III.
Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Lawrence Collins said he has been exploring ways to get back the more than $100,000 in land sales that buyers already want returned. He doesn't yet know exactly how many of the buyers will want to turn over the land in exchange for their money.
But, he added, "some of the people we talked to want to keep the land."
Both sides have discussed selling the parcels back to Volusia County, which had been buying such abandoned subdivisions in wetlands for years. Budgetary concerns could slow that process, Collins said.
Kelly and his attorney will be "looking into" how many of the buyers in fact want to turn the land over in exchange for the money they paid.
"It really should have been handled as a civil matter," Quarles said.
