Swindler Preyed on Hurricane Victims,|Says Woman Who Lost Her Home

BEAUMONT, Texas (CN) - A man who claimed to run a "Christian based nonprofit" swindled a woman out of her home after Hurricane Rita - and charged her for it - she claims in Jefferson County Court. She sued Robert T. Queen Jr., of Missouri City, Texas, and his companies QF Holdings and Arcella.

Doris Watson claims Queen preyed upon her poverty and lack of sophistication. She says that after Rita damaged her home in 2005, she responded to defendants' ad promising to help hurricane victims "get back on their feet." Watson says Queen "told her that this was her 'lucky day' because he operated a special nonprofit program that could help her with repairs or put her in a new home." She says he told her to go to a meeting with him, "and instructed her to bring a copy of her deed."

At the meeting, he told her that his company Arcella was "a 'Christian based' nonprofit organization dedicated to the recovery of storm victims who were under-served by the government."

Watson claims Queen charged her $148 to "become a member of the 'Affordable Home Program." Then, she says, she and others had to attend "seminars" he would conduct - which were useless. After that, she says Queen got her to sign a "Letter of Intent" to sell him her home for $34,848 - with a 2-year "grace period" before he had to pay anything. Eventually, she says, he gave her a promissory note for only $20,500, and paid her only $1,500 - and now he has title to her home and she has Shinola. She says she's lost her home, is forced to live with her family at a hotel, and Queen is ducking her calls.

Watson is represented by Robert Wharton with Lone Star Legal Aid of Nacogdoches.

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