Florida swampland on eBay State Investigates
Published April 17th, 2006
State investigators are probing the activities of a Brandon company accused of using an Internet version of the classic Florida swampland ruse, duping buyers who are trying to cash in on what appears to be a cheap property investment.
Landtrust Liquidators, doing business as Sanders & Harring LLC, was selling parcels on eBay auctions in and around an area of Volusia County known as University Highlands.
The area is east of Deland and north of Interstate 4. It is mostly undeveloped property with lots of wetlands and no roads or other infrastructure, according to county records.
Volusia property appraiser records show about 40 deeds involving property transactions in the University Highlands area by the company’s principals, Ryan Harring and Willis Sanders, since last fall.
In some cases, property that is assessed at $300 to $500 has been sold this year for thousands of dollars, records show.
Wrongdoing denied
Harring and Tampa attorney Bruce Plessner, who is representing the company, denied any wrongdoing by Sanders & Harring. Plessner said the company is cooperating with investigators.
A house on Comstock Place in Brandon’s Homestead subdivision is listed as the company’s corporate headquarters.
“To the best of my knowledge, we’re not selling swampland,” said Harring in a brief interview outside the house. The stocky 26-year-old refused to elaborate further on the company’s business activities.
When approached outside the residence in the middle of a weekday afternoon, Harring was wearing shorts and a T-shirt.
Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist’s office received an e-mailed complaint about Sanders & Harring in February, prompting an investigation into the company’s land transactions and online advertising, said Joann Carrin, a spokeswoman for Crist.
