Greeley – A bitter dispute among members of a prominent Greeley family over a $1 million land deal gone sour involves not only allegations of fraud and deceit but also accusations of extortion and involvement by the CIA.
Both sides of a case being tried in Weld County District Court pitting Greeley developer David Calvin and his son-in-law, Rodney Guerrieri, are bound by a court-ordered restriction on testimony of CIA involvement in the matter.
A U.S. attorney has been present throughout the trial – which began last week – to ensure witnesses adhere to the order.
The CIA angle is one of the bigger twists in the story of a fractured family fighting over a complicated land deal before District Judge Roger Klein.
“Dave at one time was like a second father to me; I idolized him,” Guerrieri said recently.
Guerrieri, married to Calvin’s daughter, Becky, said he and his three children had to move away from Greeley to Highlands Ranch to get away from the acrimony the case has generated. “This has turned the whole family against us.”
Calvin’s suit claims his son-in-law tried to enrich himself off of a 26-acre parcel of land in 2002 by inflating the property’s price and keeping the $1.1 million paid by Calvin’s company for the land.
The suit claims Guerrieri and the landowners – Grant and Roxane Moen – are guilty of fraud and deceit.
Guerrieri made “material and false representations of fact,” the suit alleged, and when confronted by Calvin’s representatives, he defended his actions by citing his need to enrich himself and his investors.
“Guerrieri’s reaction was … that he was entitled to make some money on the transaction and that he … had investors he had to pay,” according to Calvin’s attorneys.
Calvin has referred all questions to his attorneys, who declined to comment during the trial.
Guerrieri says Calvin wanted him to acquire property with an appraisal value of at least $6 million to help Calvin and members of U.S. intelligence and military agencies invest in a power plant in China.
Guerrieri also claims that Calvin reneged on his investment plans for Guerrieri’s company and then used his supposed ties with the CIA to threaten Guerrieri.
At a November 2003 meeting, Calvin is alleged to have demanded that Guerrieri refund the $1 million on the spot and repeatedly told his son-in-law that he “didn’t know who he was dealing with,” according to court papers.
Calvin told Guerrieri that Calvin and his investors were following Guerrieri and that Guerrieri would be investigated by the CIA and sent to federal prison, the papers said.
Calvin denies ever threatening his son-in-law.
His attorneys say that Guerrieri voluntarily signed a letter in November 2003 admitting to cheating Calvin’s company of more than $1 million and that in a meeting a few days later, he raised no issues about intimidation.
The claims and counterclaims have led to an estranged family, Rodney and Becky Guerrieri said in an interview last fall.
They say Becky’s father tried to ruin them financially and cut off their ties to family members.
“But we are happier now,” Becky Guerrieri said. “We know what is important now, and we have found a real home.”
Testimony in the case is scheduled to continue for most of this week.
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or at mwhaley@denverpost.com.
