A Central Florida man who pledged hundreds of thousands of dollars to gay charities but never followed through is now facing federal charges in an alleged housing scam.
Curtis Sutton, also known as Curtis Kilgallen, has been indicted on federal charges of misrepresenting Social Security information. According to Orlando Sentinel, the 23-year old raised some red flags with his elaborate back story involving the Etch-A-Sketch fortune and a recently deceased US Senator father when he was trying to purchase a 3 million dollar home in Altamonte Springs. The information provided to the real-estate broker allegedly included a false Social Security number, a Georgia driver's license, and a fake statement of assets and liabilities giving Sutton a net worth of more than $160 million, the Sentinelreported. Sutton also allegedly tried to buy a home in early January by telling the previous owner that he made more than $7,000 dollars a week running his own company. He was allowed to live in the home until the real-estate agent discovered the ruse and threatened to call the police unless he left the home immediately.
On March 9, a grand jury indicted Sutton on two counts.
Orlando's gay community is no stranger to Sutton's schemes. He's reportedly pledged more than one million dollars to local non-profits, including The (GLBT) Center and the Zebra Coalition.
According to Randy Stephens, The Center's executive director, Sutton posed as a doctor and offered to help cover some financial costs of hosting the Miss Gay Days pageant, then offered to pay for more than $100,000 in improvements on The Center's headquarters building. Stephens said last autumn, Sutton frequently visited The Center wearing stethoscopes and lab scrubs but Stephens felt “uneasy.”
“We wanted to believe in him, but when he showed up with his doctor's kit and offered to give free checkups in the library I had to put my foot down,” he said.
When Sutton's back story failed to check out, Stephens said he told Sutton he would no longer entertain any more involvement with The Center.
In addition, while attending the Diva Invasion event in November 2010, Sutton reportedly wrote a fake $50,000 check for the Zebra Coalition and pledged more than one million dollars to their charity over the next few years. Finally, Stephens said Sutton promised to donate special t-shirts for a local gay youth group and ordered them, but charged the shirts to The Center.
Sutton is now facing up to 5 years in prison in the housing scam charges.
