Nathan Reardon returns to managing flats in defiance of choose’s order
Nathan Reardon stepped out of a silver Mercedes sedan on July 26, about two and a half weeks after he completed serving a federal sentence for fraud. With him on the residence complicated in Howland was a handyman carrying instruments and constructing provides.
A reporter watched as Reardon led the person to an residence the place he advised him what flooring wanted to be reduce and positioned all through the unit. Later that afternoon Reardon took one other man on a tour of a unique residence across the facet of the constructing.
A choose has prohibited Reardon, 45, from working for himself or anybody near him. However by speaking to tenants and a carpenter, and reviewing texts messages and images, the Bangor Every day Information discovered that, in his quick day out of jail, Reardon has resumed property administration and landlord duties for a corporation run by his father on paper.
Reardon has a historical past of violating labor legal guidelines and failing to pay taxes, and he just lately served jail time for defrauding the federal authorities in 2020. As a part of his sentence, a choose barred him from operating his corporations and ordered Reardon to dissolve them.
However whereas Reardon is not in command of the final remaining, lively and registered firm he based, referred to as Final Property Holdings LLC, he didn’t dissolve it. As a substitute, his father, Arthur Reardon, took management as supervisor.
Whereas Arthur Reardon has remained the corporate’s authority on official paperwork, three tenants and a carpenter who labored for Nathan Reardon described how Nathan Reardon is the one dealing with the day-to-day work of being a landlord and managing rental properties.
Nathan Reardon is just not allowed to be self-employed and “shall be constantly employed for compensation by a disinterested third social gathering,” in accordance with his circumstances of supervised launch. A disinterested third social gathering is somebody who is just not associated by blood or marriage, in accordance with the U.S. Division of Justice’s Legal Useful resource Handbook.
Nathan Reardon didn’t reply to a telephone name or textual content message in search of an interview.
Arthur Reardon stated he couldn’t “speak about any of that,” earlier than the decision disconnected.
The BDN spoke to a few individuals who signed leases with Final Property Holdings for flats in Howland and Dexter however who had been requested in Could — previous to Nathan Reardon’s launch from federal custody — to solely talk with Nathan Reardon concerning the day-to-day administration of their houses, in accordance with their textual content messages. It means Nathan Reardon is as soon as once more taking part within the work of an organization {that a} choose ordered him to dissolve.
The three tenants the BDN spoke to, however are usually not figuring out as a result of they feared retaliation from Reardon, described regarding dwelling circumstances and suspected code violations of their flats managed by Final Property Holdings.
One tenant in Howland bodily confirmed a reporter his residence the place ceiling tiles have been moist to the contact and browning across the edges. Some tiles have been utterly discolored, whereas others had smaller stains. A counter had separated from the wall, and there have been streaks of a brown residue dripping from the ceiling down all of the door frames. A humid odor clung to the air.
One other tenant in Howland shared photos of what her lavatory appeared like after the ceiling fell on prime of her 3 12 months outdated, she stated. She requested Nathan Reardon to repair the ceiling a number of instances, in accordance with their textual content messages.
The tenant withheld a part of her hire till the problems may very well be fastened, however they weren’t, in accordance with their messages. She was evicted in July. Nathan Reardon’s father, Arthur Reardon, signed the eviction discover, however an image of it was texted to the tenant by Nathan Reardon.
She and a tenant in Dexter supplied copies of their leases, which confirmed that Arthur Reardon additionally signed the agreements as a landlord representing Final Property Holdings.
Whereas tax data present Final Property Holdings doesn’t personal any bodily residence buildings, the corporate acts as a property administration agency — gathering rents, signing leases, managing the properties and submitting eviction complaints in court docket.
Nathan Reardon based the corporate in 2020, in accordance with public enterprise filings, and he was the supervisor till July 7, after a reporter inquired with the corporate why it nonetheless existed regardless of a court docket order to dissolve.
That very same day, Arthur Reardon took management of the corporate, in accordance with enterprise data filed in Florida the place the corporate was first integrated.
The U.S. Probation and Pretrial Companies Workplace for the District of Maine didn’t reply to a voicemail asking if Nathan Reardon was abiding by the phrases of his circumstances of launch from jail.
The U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for Maine, which prosecuted Reardon’s fraud case, declined to speak about whether or not it was trying into whether or not Reardon was abiding by the phrases of his probation.
The 2 Howland tenants each stated they reported their issues about their dwelling circumstances to Howland’s code enforcement officer.
Howland officers have acquired since January at the least half a dozen complaints about circumstances contained in the residence constructing, starting from water leaking by way of the roof and flooding items, mould on account of the water harm, and no warmth, Howland City Supervisor David Lloyd stated.
“There have been quite a lot of calls and concern,” he stated.
Each Howland tenants have been in common communication with Heather Reardon and Arthur Reardon concerning the points of their flats till they each acquired a textual content on the finish of Could from a person who recognized himself as Nathan, they stated. The telephone quantity Nathan Reardon texted the tenants from was the identical quantity the BDN has used to speak to him up to now.
“Greetings everybody, my title is Nathan and I’m taking again over the flats full-time now,” the textual content message stated.
The message continued, with Nathan Reardon additional emphasizing that he was the one in command of the flats.
“Please do not forget that I’m the one one dealing with any points with this residence to any extent further so be at liberty to contact me immediately with any points we have to handle,” he stated within the message.
One of many Howland tenants stated she didn’t really feel snug speaking with Nathan as she knew he was a convicted felon, and he was not the particular person named on her lease.
As a substitute, she continued reaching out to Heather Reardon who was additionally not listed on the lease however collected her hire each month, the tenant stated.
That’s when she bought a brand new textual content message.
“This can be a reminder that nobody else is to be messaged about leaks or every other points,” Reardon stated within the message. “I’m caring for all the things to any extent further.”
The Dexter tenant confirmed the BDN his textual content messages with Nathan Reardon describing how he was paying greater than he ought to on his electrical invoice every month as a result of widespread house lighting and different electrical companies have been hooked as much as the tenant’s breaker and meter regardless of his lease stating the owner was chargeable for these prices.
Quickly after the tenant advised Nathan Reardon he didn’t need him coming into his residence when he wasn’t there, a discover to vacate the premises was posted on his door, signed by Arthur Reardon.
At one level in a textual content message, the tenant advised Nathan Reardon he was not imagined to be working for his father and was imagined to have dissolved his corporations.
“The companies have been all dissolved. I recognize you studying the paper and all their lies although,” Reardon replied.
As of Wednesday, nobody had dissolved Final Property Holdings, nonetheless. It’s nonetheless a registered firm in each Maine and Florida, in accordance with enterprise data filed in each states. The Florida Division of State, which oversees enterprise and company filings, lists the corporate as “lively.”
The lease agreements that Howland and Dexter tenants shared with the BDN confirmed that Final Property Holdings was their listed landlord. Nevertheless, in at the least Dexter, the tenant was requested to pay his hire by way of CashApp to a separate firm referred to as Skyline Properties LLC, he stated.
A carpenter for Nathan Reardon additionally labored beneath the corporate Skyline Properties, in accordance with the job posting he utilized for and textual content messages between Reardon and the now-former worker.
Their messages present Nathan Reardon advised the person the place he can be engaged on any given day, the duties he wanted to finish and what instruments to carry.
“Carry a noticed that may reduce a banister as properly. In all probability 4×4,” one message from Nathan Reardon to the worker stated.
After two weeks Reardon fired the person for supposedly not finishing the work to Reardon’s satisfaction. (The carpenter stated his work was prime quality.) The person was not paid for a few of his work and remains to be attempting to recoup cost, in accordance with textual content messages between the 2.
Reardon was the primary Mainer charged with illegally receiving a federal mortgage meant to assist small companies survive the early days of the pandemic. He pleaded responsible to 5 counts of financial institution fraud for acquiring a $60,000 Paycheck Safety Program mortgage in 2020 by falsifying details about payroll for his enterprise in July 2022.
U.S. District Choose Lance Walker sentenced Reardon to twenty months in federal jail on Nov. 3, 2022. He was launched early.
Sawyer Loftus is an investigative reporter on the Bangor Every day Information. He could also be reached at [email protected].
