In our last edition we told the story of Dean and Judith Wachsmuth's bankruptcy nightmare. Windermere realtors Mel and Gayle Atkins sued the Wachsmuths back in 1997, over a mainly "freedom of speech" issue and were able to obtain a judgment against them, which in turn forced the couple to file bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy trustee Candace Amborn who regularly has Mel Atkins appraise bankruptcy properties for her was assigned to their case. Any ethical attorney (as Amborn is not) would have removed herself from the case due to the absolute conflict of interest which existed, in that Atkins worked for her and she was now attempting to get him his judgment money from the estate.

Fearing that they wouldn't get a fair shake (which they obviously have not received) the Wachsmuths filed a complaint against Amborn with the Oregon State Bar Association (OSB). The complaint listed the special relationship between Mel and Gayle Atkins and Candace Amborn in detail. The OSB responded in their usual fashion, claiming they found nothing improper with Amborn using Atkins to appraise properties and then for her to basically represent Atkins against the Wachsmuths. This response is par for the course with the OSB. This elite little club is presented valid complaints on a regular basis, which they almost always reject because they are an organization exactly likened to the fox guarding the chicken coop. If they were to go against one of their own they would be opening up the Professional Liability Fund (part of the OSB) to liability. This means if someone was able to sue their attorney for cheating or stealing from them or malpracticing them (these varied damages occur every day of the week within the legal profession), the OSB would have to pay. We all know that attorneys aren't accustomed to paying; they are accustomed to collecting even when they often do little to earn the pay.

In a recent conversation with the Wachsmuths I was asked whether they should file another complaint based on the following information. I started laughing as I described to them how ridiculous and laughable the OSB is and then I told them not to waste their time.

Amborn continued the case and her first step was to have the Wachsmuth's property appraised. The Wachsmuth's had already had a licensed real estate appraiser place the value at $95,000.00, but Amborn didn't trust this figure so she hired another appraiser with an indirect conflict who was subsequently rejected by the Wachsmuths. Amborn then hired an uninterested appraiser who also placed the value at $95,000.00.

Amborn then filed suit against Dean Wachsmuth's father and Judy Wachsmuth's mother, claiming they had fraudulent conveyance's in that they originally loaned moneys to Dean and Judy to purchase their property fraudulently. The loans are totally valid, so we can safely say that Amborn most likely did this for her business associate Mel Atkins. Would a prudent person consider this act to be bankruptcy fraud? If not, how about Amborn attempting to settle with the parents who loaned the money for less than they were owed based on a drive-by appraisal, conducted on January 23, 2003, by none other than Windermere Realty which is owned in part by none other than Mel Atkins, who has been after Dean and Judy Wachsmuth and their property for over seven years.

In this writer's opinion this is not only bankruptcy fraud it is an absolute conspiracy, possibly criminal, between Federal Bankruptcy attorney Candace Amborn and Grants Pass realtors Mel and Gayle Atkins. It's also disgusting for an attorney (Candace Amborn) to take bankruptcy (which is a principle taken directly from the Bible), a legal safeguard for people having debt problems, and turn that bankruptcy against the very ones it was meant to help.

Amborn hired attorney David B. Mills out of Eugene, Oregon to file the totally frivolous lawsuit against the Wachsmuth's parents and this same attorney is the one who placed the value of the property at $170,000.00, up from the true appraisal of $95,000.00. In Mill's letter of attempted settlement he states, "Please be mindful that the Trustee has not yet considered this concept." This statement is believable only to those people accustomed to falling off pumpkin trucks on a regular basis. It was most likely included in his letter in a lame attempt to offer Amborn a dash of protection, but actually anything Mills does on Amborn's behalf is exactly as if Amborn were doing it herself. And to save argument, how did Mills get in touch with the only real estate company involved in this case, the only one connected with Mel Atkins, who stands to gain.

Realizing that they were literally getting screwed out of their property and that their parents were literally getting screwed out of the money they had loaned, Dean and Judy Wachsmuth were once again forced into another legal action. They recently informed Amborn and her attorney they were going to switch their chapter 7 bankruptcy into a chapter 13. This means that the Wachsmuth's will have to make regular payments into the bankruptcy court for at least three years, however Amborn (and her underhanded tactics) will no longer have access to the Wachsmuths or their property. They will get another Trustee (hopefully an ethical one) and hopefully one that isn't well connected to Mel Atkins or Windermere Reality.

This case is actually a tragedy because the Wachsmuths filed a legal and proper chapter 7 and Amborn has forced them to pay when they should not have had to. It would certainly be the right thing in our opinion for the Wachmuths to sue the hell out of both Amborn and Atkins and the US~Oregon Observer will give them all the assistance possible.

In our last edition we posted a $2,000.00 reward offer to anyone with information leading to either ethics charges or violations of any laws regarding Mel or Gayle Atkins or Federal Bankruptcy Trustee Candace Amborn. Numerous calls have came in on Amborn, which we are looking into. One person claims Amborn ignored forgery and fraud in a bankruptcy his ex-wife filed and the evidence he has provided to us and also to Amborn is very compelling. Complaints have also been lodged against Mel Atkins and we are investigating each one of them, however many have stated they are afraid to come forward because of possible retaliation and/or the possibility of ruthless and underhanded actions against themselves.

The US~Oregon Observer has honored their position and holds their complaints in the strictest confidence. We do however hope that some will change their position when they realize the need for them to be straight forward, not only with regards to their situation, but also to that of Dean and Judith Wachsmuth. The reward still stands and "Friends" of Dean and Judy Wachsmuth have informed me that if there are more than one violation or charge against the Atkins or Amborn they will honor those as well. To our entire readership, I would strongly urge you to do the right thing. Don't sit on the information you have, call 541-474-7885 and help out your fellow citizens who have been wrongfully attacked.