Staff Writer

A man in federal custody has been charged with felony theft after allegedly listing a stranger’s property for sale on Craigslist and taking a deposit from a prospective buyer, according to police.

Police say 50-year-old Michael Hamlin, who recently served 14 years in federal prison for weapons violations, was living in a Portland federal halfway house when his nonprofit ministry paid the tax lien on a Guinea Road property in Biddeford. He allegedly tried to sell homes in South Portland and Biddeford without the owners’ knowledge, police said.

Hamlin was arrested April 2 on York Street in Portland, said South Portland Police Detective Steve Webster. He remains in custody at Cumberland County Jail and has not entered a plea. He is expected to appear in court again June 29.

Hamlin’s court-appointed attorney, Jason MacLean of South Portland, declined to comment.

Also arrested were Daniel and Kim Ballard of Portland, who were charged with theft in connection with Hamlin’s alleged attempt to sell a home at 5 Paddock Place in South Portland, according to Webster.

South Portland police began an investigation of Hamlin when they received a call April 1 from a South Portland City Hall employee who reported a woman had called her office about the foreclosure status of 5 Paddock Place in South Portland.

Mary Thomason, who lives in the Boston area, told the employee and police she had given Hamlin a $2,900 deposit for the house, which he said was in foreclosure. She could not be reached for comment.

Webster said his investigation revealed the home, owned by Donald Bragdon, was not for sale and is held in a trust. Bragdon told police it is not in foreclosure.

Kim Ballard lived in the house with her children until recently, police said.

Thomason’s involvement with Hamlin began when she inquired about a listing on the Web site Craigslist for a “distressed” house for sale for $50,000 in Biddeford, according to police.

Police say Hamlin had obtained a list of properties with tax liens from Biddeford City Hall and his nonprofit ministry paid an $814 lien on a parcel of land and building at 52 Guinea Road owned by Christie Petit. The vacant house Hamlin allegedly showed Thomason at 54 Guinea Road is owned by Petit’s mother and is adjacent to Petit’s property.

Thomason and her boyfriend looked at the Biddeford house in mid-March without Hamlin, according to police, but she decided she wasn’t interested.

Hamlin then suggested Thomason look at the South Portland home, according to police. On March 24, she again drove to Maine and met with Hamlin and Daniel and Kim Ballard at Custom Upholstery, a business owned by Daniel Ballard.

Kim Ballard said she lived in the South Portland house but could not leave work to show her the property, Thomason told police. Kim Ballard said her 13-year-old son would be home to let them in, according to police.

After viewing the house, Thomason returned to Ballard’s office and signed a promissory note for the property with Hamlin and Kingdom’s Presence Ministry, a nonprofit organization he started while in prison, according to police.

Thomason agreed to pay a $10,000 deposit on the home, which she would buy for $50,000, according to the purchase agreement. The ministry agreed to finance the house for $800 per month with no interest, beginning in June. Thomason agreed to pay all 2010 taxes and utilities on the property, according to the agreement.

Thomason told police Hamlin called her March 30 to ask for the remaining down payment of $7,100. When she called back, Daniel Ballard answered the phone and said Hamlin was “locked up” in a halfway house, police said. Thomason and her boyfriend then contacted South Portland City Hall to inquire about the home’s status.

Thomason told investigators Hamlin and the Ballards were all actively involved with selling her the South Portland home, police said.

Daniel Ballard told police he was a silent partner in Kingdom’s Presence Ministry and Hamlin is married to his mother, Judy. Ballard said he rented space to Hamlin, who bought and sold damaged goods such as canned food, tore down old buildings and dabbled in real estate, according to police.

Police say Hamlin is classified as a “sexually violent predator” and listed on the Maine Sex Offender Registry. He was in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons when the alleged theft occurred and was not set to begin probation until June, police said.

Daniel and Kim Ballard told police they did not know Hamlin was doing anything illegal, though they had their suspicions, according to police.

“(Kim Ballard) denied knowing the entire thing was a scam and she basically told me that everything was Hamlin’s idea. She told me that she had just married Dan Ballard and it was Ballard who introduced her to Hamlin. She was told by Hamlin that what he was doing was not illegal and she apparently trusted him,” Webster wrote in his report.

Webster said the district attorney’s office will be consulted to determine if the Ballards will continue to be co-defendants or witnesses. Tamara Getchell of the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office said the department has not yet reviewed the cases of Daniel and Kim Ballard.

Webster said he anticipates additional charges will come from the Biddeford Police Department. Biddeford Deputy Police Chief JoAnne Fisk said the department is investigating Hamlin’s involvement with the Guinea Road property and cautions people to report suspicious real estate offers to police.

“It’s basically just a big scam to bilk people out of their money,” Webster said.

Kim Ballard said last week she and her husband are innocent and fear their reputations have been ruined by their association with Hamlin. She said she had known Hamlin for a little more than a month and heard nothing of the Craigslist ad until she was arrested and questioned by police.

She said she was not at home when her son called March 24 to say people wanted to look at the South Portland house.  She said she told him not open the door, but he had already let a couple in to look around.

“I said ‘the house is not for sale. All I can tell you is the man who owned it is having trouble paying his taxes,’” she said.

Ballard said Hamlin once told her how he sometimes acquired property. He told her the steps he went through to buy a foreclosed property, including going before a judge and running advertisements in newspapers, she said.

“It sounded like he knew what he was doing. It sounded legit. I guess I’m gullible. If someone tells me something I hope they’re telling me the right thing,” she said. “He made himself out to be a very nice person, helping out the needy. I was like ‘wow, this guy really cares about people.’”

Kim Ballard said she and her husband, who were both released on bail the night they were arrested, are focused on helping police. 

“He ruined my name, he ruined my reputation,” she said.

Christie Petit first learned of an alleged attempt to sell her mother’s vacant home in Biddeford when a man called with questions about the house. The man, who got her name from neighbors, told her he saw the house on the Internet and had questions about its condition. Petit said she told the man the house was not for sale.

Petit said the man told her he had gone into the vacant house after unlocking a padlock with a combination allegedly provided by Hamlin.

Petit found the Craigslist ad and called Hamlin. Petit said Hamlin told her he owned the house because he had paid an $814 tax lien on her property next door. He described himself as a “man of faith,” and he said he wanted to help people, she said.

“He said ‘I’d like to make this work to your benefit,’” Petit said. “By the end of the conversation, I believed everything he said.”

Still, Petit said she was skeptical of the situation and called her bank, which told her she still owned the property, she said. She then contacted the tax collector and police.

Biddeford Tax Collector Gayle Doyon said ownership of property does not transfer when someone pays a lien. A discharge, which shows a lien is forgiven or settled, is made to the property owner. Liens are public record and anyone can get a list, she said.

A tax collector’s lien certificate filed with the Register of Deeds shows Kingdom’s Presence Ministry and Daniel Ballard paid the lien. The Jan. 20 check from Kingdom’s Presence Ministry was signed by Judith Hamlin – Daniel Ballard’s mother and Hamlin’s wife. A memo line notes it is for taxes at 52 Guinea Road.

Doyon said she asked the woman who came in with a check if Petit was a member of the ministry or if she was “paying out of the goodness of her heart.” The woman said she was friends with Petit, according to Doyon.

Doyon said she told the woman she did not own the property because she paid the lien.

Petit said she would like to see Hamlin and anyone else involved punished with “something more than a slap on the wrist.” She and her mother, Claudia Cantara, are dealing with damage they believe Hamlin did to the vacant home that Cantara now plans to sell.

Petit said she was upset to find Kingdom’s Presence Ministry filed a lawsuit against her in Portland District Court seeking reimbursement for the tax lien payment. The lawsuit lists the plaintiffs as Kingdom’s Presence Ministry, Daniel Ballard and Lynne Mulkern.

The lawsuit says Petit would have lost her land and building on Jan. 22 if the plaintiffs did not pay money to stop an automatic tax foreclosure.

The plaintiffs say under Maine law they are entitled to their money back plus 10 percent interest.

Petit said her lawyer has filed a response requesting the lawsuit be dismissed. The response says Petit had no agreement regarding the lien, there is no state statute that permits what the plaintiffs request and the lawsuit is fraudulent.

Petit and Cantara said they feel violated because Hamlin allegedly entered the home, which belonged to Petit’s grandparents before their deaths.

“They had zero right to my grandparents’ property,” she said.

Bragdon, who now lives in the Paddock Place house that’s been in his family 1961, said he was angered by the attempt to sell his South Portland home. He said he hopes officials in other municipalities are able to see red flags the way South Portland city employees did.

“Cities and towns should have a watchful eye on people trying to pay bills not for their own property,” he said. “I hope this sends a message to future scam artists that they’re going to get caught.”

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337.