Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/147897
Sarasota News Leader August 2, 2013 flating the value of more than 100 waterfront homes in Sarasota — as a hurdle to restoring this neighborhood to its former ambiance. At least four of the people convicted in the fraud case resided in waterfront homes on these streets. Page 21 this small community west of the Tamiami Trail. A year after Bobka was indicted on 34 counts of fraudulent home-flipping, the spacious waterfront house he once owned sits vacant, with mold growing along the façade and vines covering its balcony. The ripples have spread widely, with at least a dozen more houses — not owned by the people convicted in the case — either the property of banks or of other persons and sitting empty. According to Sarasota County property records, several years before he was convicted, Bobka — identified as one of the two ringleaders of the fraud conspiracy — transferred the property to Paula Hornberger and his brother, According to court records, Rich Bobka and George Cavallo. In 2012, Cavallo and HornCraig Adams provided lenders false informa- berger were both convicted of participating tion to obtain loans. Between 1997 and 2008, in fraudulent deals with Bobka and Adams. Adams, Bobka and their associates complet- One street south, at 7767 N. Holiday Drive, ed more than 150 fraudulent real estate deals, Bobka's father, George Bobka Sr., owned and borrowing more than $200 million from area lived in a canal-front home that sits vacant. It banks. has been covered with a blue tarp for at least The "mega-home" at 1762 Southpointe Drive a year, Gerkin said. The father pleaded guilty is the largest neighborhood reminder of a de- to participating in fraudulent deals with his cade of fraud that was plotted, in part, from sons and other members of the conspiracy. The home at 7767 N. Holiday Drive has been covered with a tarp for at least a year. It was once inhabited and owned by George Bobka Sr., father of Rich Bobka.