Authorities are still searching for a woman who allegedly swindled nearly $5 million from victims of the Jesusita and Tea fires after telling them she’d rebuild their homes.
Penny Art Estes, who operated a company called Green Building America, is accused of stealing money from 13 different people in the Santa Barbara area after their homes were destroyed by wildfire.
According to the complaint the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office filed against Estes in March, the crimes occurred between Aug. 25, 2010, and Sept. 30, 2011.
The complaint lists 24 felony counts, including diversion of construction funds, obtaining services by false pretenses, grand theft and financial elder abuse, as well as failure to file income taxes for 2009, 2010 and 2011.
A declaration in support of an arrest warrant for Estes, 63, was also issued in February and details 13 victims, all with homes that were destroyed on Mountain Drive and Conejo, El Cielito, Holly and Tunnel roads in the foothills above Santa Barbara. The houses burned in the November 2008 Tea Fire or the May 2009 Jesusita Fire.
In that document, District Attorney’s investigator Norma Hansen said the DA’s office began receiving complaints in July 2012 from several victims regarding diversion of funds. The victims all signed construction contracts with Estes and Green Building America to rebuild their homes.
“They each paid thousands of dollars toward the rebuilds of their homes and the homes were either never completed, or were completed for an amount over the contracted amount,” the document states.
Each victim spoke about meeting Estes, usually at community support meetings for fire victims. At the meetings, Estes would approach them about rebuilding the homes near cost “because she felt sorry for the people who had lost their homes,” one victim recounted in Hansen’s report.
According to the report, Estes explained that her company used mold- and fire-resistant hybrid blocks in construction. The report said various stages of work on the homes transpired, and millions of dollars were turned over to her, but at some point she became unreachable.
Ultimately, the company abandoned the projects and Estes could not be contacted. The report said she is estimated to have received more than $4.8 million from the contracts. Estes is not licensed with the California Contractors State License Board.
Three of the victims were over 65 when they signed the contracts with Estes.
Hansen said she reviewed Estes’ bank statements, and the activity from one account shows purchases and charges at hotels, restaurants, department stores and for travel.
Estes’ whereabouts are unknown. She had been reported as staying at the Montecito Inn as well as in a camper near the beach in Santa Barbara, and she has been associated with locations in Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Palm Desert, Palm Springs and Mesa, Ariz.
According to the Sheriff’s Department’s, Estes is 5-foot-7 and 175 pounds with gray hair and blue eyes. Click here for additional details on vehicles that have been associated with her.
Anyone with information about Estes or her whereabouts is asked to contact Deputy District Attorney Gary Gemberling at 805.568.2372, or sheriff’s detectives at 805.681.4150. Information also can be called in to the sheriff’s Anonymous Tip Line at 805.681.4171.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.