"The term "extortion" means the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right." 18 U.S.C. 1951(A)(2)

NOTE: The purpose of the banking and Title Fraud scheme being exposed on the pages of this website was concisely expressed by Winnebago County Assistant State's Attorney Wendy Larson on April 28, 2004, when she stated to Judge Richard W. Vidal, during a criminal proceeding against Mr. Vance, as follows:

"Actually, Judge, it's my understanding that this stems from a proceeding from 20 years ago started by the bank trying to obtain title to property.” ( Transcript , pages 14 & 15). Wendy Larson then stated to Judge Richard W. Vidal that "There is a valid trustee's deed" issued by Thomas J. Lester, as Trustee of Clarence's Bankruptcy Estate in Adversary Case 99-A-5023, to "Purchaser" Alan F. Miller on September 26, 2000. Wendy Larson did not explain to Judge Vidal how Trustee Thomas J. Lester could issue "a valid trustee's deed" to Alan Miller Seventeen (17) years after Clarence's Title interest in that real estate had been lawfully transferred and that transfer was confirmed by Winnebago County Circuit Court Orders, in Case 97-ED-1, two (2) years before Thomas Lester issued a "TRUSTEE'S DEED" to the "Purchaser" of each "Parcel" that real estate was divided into in 2000 .

The only inaccuracy in that Wendy Larson statement is that approximately 10 years prior to the initial efforts of the State Bank of Davis "trying to obtain title to property" the German-American State Bank also attempted a similar effort. On June 26, 1985, Officers of the State Bank of Davis, the German-American State Bank and the Northwest Bank in Rockford created, and became part of, Foresight Financial Group, Inc., a bank holding company headquartered in Rockford, Illinois.

Wellsofjustice.org is a nationwide ad-hoc group of concerned citizens dedicated to exposing Title Fraud and various property extortion schemes perpetrated, "under color of official right", by corrupt corporate and government officers.

Every statement of fact set forth on the pages of this website is supported either by the documents linked; by Public Documents contained in pertinent Court Records; by Public Records maintained, in this instance, by the Winnebago County Recorder's Office in Rockford, Illinois; or by verifiable statements of the victims in this case. The exposing of this well documented banking and Title Fraud scheme hopefully will make property owners and others aware of the attacks being made against the integrity of Title Deeds to Real Estate in the United States.

The banking and Title Fraud scheme being exposed on this website has been carefully crafted, perpetrated and perpetuated by persons whose identities are known. Upon information and belief, persons whose identities are not known at this time may also be involved. This scheme has been perpetrated and perpetuated, since early 1999, in the utter disregard of pertinent federal law, specifically 28 U.S.C. 1257 and the United States Supreme Court's Rooker-Feldman doctrine.

Wellsofjustice.org has followed and intensely researched this case since the summer of calendar year 2000. This case involves documented and flagrant corruption and the malicious abuse of legal process in the ongoing effort of "trying to obtain title to property" "under color of official right". An early history of this case appears, in brief, at: www.wellsofjustice.com/stealingland.htm

Wellsofjustice.org research indicates that, from mid 1971 until early 1974, Officers of the German-American State Bank, in German Valley, Illinois, together with the Bank's Legal Counsel Wilbur L. Kroeger (a member of the law firm of KROEGER, BURT & DEMIK in Freeport, Illinois), originally perpetrated this scheme of "trying to obtain title" to the farm property in question. Bank Officers agreed to finance Mr. Vance's farming operation and then, after a period of time, forced him to incur excessive operating expenses, some of which they refused to finance. After those excessive expenses made it impossible for Mr. Vance to pay his Notes on time, Bank Officers demanded that he immediately pay his notes in full based on the claim that he had become a bad credit risk. With the assistance of family members, Mr. Vance paid off the German-American State Bank in August of 1974 and operated without bank financing for several years.

Because of increased capital requirements in late 1980, Mr. Vance asked the State Bank of Davis, in Davis, Illinois, to finance his farming and cattle feeding operation. The Bank agreed to finance his operation and to be secured ONLY by the cattle purchased with Bank funds. Mr. Vance claims that for several months thereafter his operation was profitable and he was paying short term Notes ahead of schedule.

Mr. Vance claims that, in 1980, he was not aware that the State Bank of Davis Legal Counsel was Woodruff A. Burt, a member of that same KROEGER, BURT & DEMIK (now SCHMELZLE & KROEGER) law firm in Freeport, Illinois. Mr. Vance also claims that he would not have approached or even considered doing business with the State Bank of Davis if he had been aware of the Banks relationship with that law firm.

It appears that Officers of the State Bank of Davis, together with Legal Counsel Woodruff A. Burt and his law firm, agreed to finance Mr. Vance's farming operation with the intent of obtaining another opportunity of "trying to obtain title" to the farm property.

In August of 1982, Mr. Vance again purchased feeder cattle with funds borrowed from the Bank. About November 1, 1982, Bank President Richard L. Kleckler advised Mr. Vance that the Bank would not loan him any more money even though he had approximately 100 head of cattle on feed at that time, all of them financed by State Bank of Davis Notes. Bank President Kleckler offered no explanation for that sudden breach of trust.

Mr. Vance claims that Officers of the State Bank of Davis deceived him by enticing him to trust them and then began to employ the same strategy against him that was used previously by Officers of the German-American State Bank. State Bank of Davis Officers agreed to finance Mr. Vance's farming operation and then, after a period of time, forced Mr. Vance to incur excessive operating expenses, some of which they refused to finance. After those excessive expenses made it impossible for Mr. Vance to pay his Notes on time, State Bank of Davis Officers demanded that Mr. Vance immediately pay his notes in full based on the claim that he had become a bad credit risk.

In late 1985, the State Bank of Davis initiated court proceedings against Mr. Vance at the very same time in both the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Court of the State of Illinois (Stephenson County) and the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court of the State of Illinois (Winnebago County). In June of 1986, Stephenson County Circuit Court Judge Francis X. Mahoney, upon the request of attorney Peter D. McClanathan (another member of the SCHMELZLE & KROEGER law firm at that time) signed a Judgment against Mr. Vance in the Bank's Stephenson County Case.

NOTE: Wellsofjustice.org research indicates that Judge Mahoney was later forced to resign from his position as Stephenson County Judge because of evidence that he had been presiding over cases while under the influence of alcohol.

In June of 1986, Officers of the German-American State Bank and the State Bank of Davis and the Northwest Bank in Rockford, Illinois, together with German-American Bank Counsel Wilbur L. Kroeger and State Bank of Davis Counsel Woodruff A. Burt, and perhaps others unknown, created Foresight Financial Group, Inc., a bank holding company chartered and operating under the authority of the State of Illinois. Foresight corporate Offices are now located in Rockford, Illinois.

Winnebago County Circuit Court Judge Galyn W. Moehring and a State Bank of Davis attorney, Roland McFarland (now deceased), were fully aware that one of Mr. Vance's daughters was graduating from college in another state in mid May of 1987. A few days prior to that graduation, Judge Moehring declared Mr. Vance to be in contempt of court, because he refused to sign a Deed to the farm property which the Public Title Records establish that he did not own, and sentenced him to six (6) months in jail or until he purged himself of contempt by signing that Deed. That contempt and sentence appear to have been crafted for the purpose of trying to coerce Mr. Vance into signing that Deed so he could attend his daughter's college graduation. Judge Moehring released Mr. Vance from jail in mid June of 1987 with NO agreements made and NO Deed signed by Mr. Vance.

The State bank of Davis was named as a Party Defendant in an Eminent Domain Case filed in the Winnebago County Circuit Court filed in January of 1997 as Case 97-ED-1 by the Illinois Department of Transportation. Associate Judge J. Todd Kennedy signed a state court FINAL JUDGMENT ORDER in that Case on October 27, 1998. That Order confirmed the validity of the Public Title Records maintained by the Winnebago County Recorder's Office. Those Records establish that Mr. Vance has never been a sole owner of the farm property and has had no Title interest in that property since September of 1983. The State Bank of Davis did not challenge or appeal that Order.

Mr. Vance filed a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Petition, as Case 97-B-50687 on March 10, 1997, in an effort to stop the State Bank of Davis legal proceedings that were unjustly harrassing him as well as members of his family.

On February 24, 1999, Daniel M. Donahue, one of the State Bank of Davis attorneys and also the attorney for Thomas J. Lester (the Trustee for the Bankruptcy Estate of Mr. Vance) , filed an Adversary Complaint, as Bankruptcy Case 99-A-5023, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Western Division. In that Adversary Complaint, attorney Donahue asked the Bankruptcy Court "to enter an order authorizing the Trustee to sell the Farm Property" based on a claim of ownership favorable to the interests of the State Bank of Davis despite being contrary to the ownership established by those Public Title Records and confirmed by that prior state court FINAL JUDGMENT ORDER.

According to United States Statute 28 U.S.C. 1257 and the United States Supreme Court's Rooker-Feldman doctrine , both the Bankruptcy Court and the Federal District Court which it is a part of lack subject matter jurisdiction to engage in appellate review of any prior state court judgment. Furthermore, attorney Woodruff A. Burt had successfully argued the 28 U.S.C. 1257 absence of subject matter jurisdiction and prevailed on that very issue in a 1974 Case conducted in that same District Court.

Consequently, Daniel M. Donahue and Woodruff A. Burt, as attorneys for the State Bank of Davis, had reason to know that, according to 28 U.S.C. 1257 and the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, the Bankruptcy Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to authorize a "Sale" of "the Farm Property" based on a claim of ownership contrary to that confirmed by Judge Kennedy's prior state court FINAL JUDGMENT ORDER.

Nevertheless, Bankruptcy Judge Manuel Barbosa entertained attorney Donahue's contrary claim of ownership and signed an Order on November 24, 1999, which “authorized” an unlawful "Sale" of "the Farm Property".

In June of 2000, Security Union Title Insurance Company (a subsidiary of Fidelity National Financial, Inc.) joined this banking and Title Fraud scheme by issuing a COMMITMENT FOR TITLE INSURANCE, for each "Parcel" that property was being "divided" into, that claimed an ownership of "the Farm Property" that was obviously contrary to the Public Title records, contrary to that prior state court FINAL JUDGMENT ORDER, and also contrary to the ownership alleged by attorney Donahue in his Adversary Complaint.

NOTE: Fidelity National Financial, Inc. is the second largest Title Company in this country and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange as "FNF". Based on Wellsofjustice.org research, Fidelity owns Chicago Title Insurance Company, Security Union Title Insurance Company, Fidelity National Title Insurance Company, Alamo Title Insurance Company, Ticor Title Insurance Company and other related companies.

Security Union claimed that Title to the "Farm Property" was “vested in: THOMAS LESTER, TRUSTEE IN BANKRUPTCY FOR CLARENCE L. VANCE, BANKRUPT” as if Mr. Vance was a sole owner of "the Farm Property". That claim was made despite the fact that the Winnebago County Public Title Records establish, and Judge Kennedy's prior state court FINAL JUDGMENT ORDER confirmed, that Mr. Vance has never been a sole owner of that property and also that Mr. Vance had no Title interest in the "the Farm Property" after 1983.

Despite the 28 U.S.C. 1257 absence of subject matter jurisdiction to review that state court FINAL JUDGMENT ORDER and based on that Security Union misrepresentation of the Public Title Records, "the Farm Property" was unlawfully sold in three (3) "Parcels" on July 20, 2000, and a "TRUSTEE'S DEED" was issued for each such "Parcel" on September 26, 2000. Chicago Title (another subsidiary of Fidelity National Financial, Inc.) issued a Title Policy to the "Purchaser" of each such "Parcel". Each such "TRUSTEE'S DEED", and presumably each such Title Policy, was issued in the name of "THOMAS J. LESTER, Trustee of the Bankruptcy Estate of Clarence L. Vance, Case No. 97 B 50687". All of which was perpetrated and executed "under color of official right" of the Bankruptcy Court.

NOTE: Wellsofjustice.org research indicates that attorney Woodruff A. ("Woody") Burt was engaged behind the scenes with Bankruptcy Trustee Thomas J. Lester and his State Bank of Davis attorney, Daniel M. Donahue, in bringing about the "Sale" of the "Farm Property" and the issuing of those deeds.

The Bankruptcy Court Record in Case 99-A-5023 establishes that, in the absence of any unsecured creditor to benefit from such a "Sale", virtually all of the proceeds realized from that "Sale" were distributed to the unjust enrichment of Bankruptcy Trustee Thomas J. Lester, attorney Daniel M. Donahue, their respective Law Firms and others who assisted in this banking and Title Fraud scheme.

NOTE: Wellsofjustice.org research indicates that, after his involvement in the "Sale" of "the Farm Property" in 2000, attorney Woodruff A. ("Woody") Burt became a member of the ECKERT, BURT & McCLANATHAN law firm in 2001 and is now a part of the SNOW, HUNTER, WHITON & FISHBURN law firm in Freeport, Illinois.

Since early 2001, this ongoing banking and Title Fraud scheme has been perpetuated by several civil actions and also by several criminal charges filed by Illinois State Police Officers and prosecuted by Winnebago County State's Attorney Paul A. Logli. Paul Logli has been prosecuting those criminal charges in utter disregard of the evidence of this scheme provided to him in mid and late 2000. All of those actions have been conducted "under color of official right" of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court of the State of Illinois, located in Rockford, Illinois, in an apparent attempt to validate and thereby conceal this scheme in order to protect the perpetrators and facilitators of the scheme of "trying to obtain title to property".

Wellsofjustice.org research also indicates that Officers of the State of Illinois, at virtually all levels of Illinois Government, have been informed of this ongoing banking and Title Fraud scheme. Each of those Officers has failed to take any action either to prosecute the perpetrators or to protect the victims of the scheme.

The respective silence of those State Officers suggests that it is their intent to protect this scheme. One or two did advise employing private counsel to address this white-collar criminal activity. One actually advised taking the problem up with Security Union, the Title Insurance Company that facilitated the scheme by misrepresenting the Public Title Records. Winnebago County Circuit Court Judges have perpetuated various civil actions that appear to have been contrived to induce victims to validate and thereby conceal this scheme of "trying to obtain title to property". Other Winnebago County Circuit Court Judges together with Winnebago County State's Attorney Paul A. Logli have perpetutated the ongoing prosecution of obviously bogus criminal charges with the same apparent intent.

Assistant State's Attorney Wendy Larson acknowledged to Judge Richard W Vidal, during an April 28, 2004 hearing conducted in People v. Vance (01-CF-2701, one of those ongoing criminal prosecutions against Mr. Vance), that Mr. Vance has had no ownership interest in the farm property since 1983. ( Transcript , page 15). Contrariwise, Winnebago County State's Attorney Paul A. Logli continues to prosecute those criminal charges against Mr. Vance on the basis of one such "TRUSTEE'S DEED" that was issued as if Mr. Vance was a sole owner and seller of the "Farm Property" in 2000.

Nevertheless, Winnebago County State's Attorney Paul A. Logli and Judge Vidal (retired on December 1, 2006) and now Judge J. Edward Prochaska (recently elected to replace Judge Vidal) have continued to prosecute what each of them has reason to know to be bogus criminal charges against Mr. Vance based on an unlawfully and fraudulently issued "TRUSTEE'S DEED".

This banking and Title Fraud scheme and the numerous efforts to induce victims to validate and thereby conceal the scheme have unjustly subjected those victims in this Case to being jailed, to being evicted, and to being threatened with years in prison, all based on that unlawfully issued "TRUSTEE'S DEED".

Wellsofjustice.org research into this Case is continuing and the exposing of this ongoing scheme of "the bank trying to obtain title to property" "under color of official right", continues.

Wellsofjustice.org thanks you for your interest in this website and for any influence or effort you are able to bring towards exposing and removing corrupt or inept judges, government officers and corporate officers as well as the prosecuting of those involved in such white-collar criminal activity.