LEWISTON — The property where a teenager was killed two years ago during a haunted hayride was sold at auction last week for $1 million.
Two mortgage holders of land and buildings at 125 Pigeon Hill Road in Mechanic Falls, which includes Pumpkin Land and The Gauntlet, bought back the property from Andover Covered Bridge LLC owner Peter Bolduc Jr. at an auction held one week ago, an attorney for E-Layne Moulders Corp. and Jaspan Schlesinger LLP told the Sun Journal on Tuesday.
Bolduc’s corporation filed for bankruptcy a year ago while facing foreclosure.
According to court records, Bolduc had not been able to pay the mortgage on his Mechanic Falls property since 2014 “due to the fact that Harvest Hill Farm was unable to generate enough income during the peak season” in 2015, a year after a hayride accident occurred at the farm that killed 17-year-old Cassidy Charette of Oakland and injured dozens of others, according to court papers.
The 2015 bankruptcy filing was dismissed by a judge in December, citing three reasons:
• Bolduc accrued additional debt after filing for bankruptcy without the means to pay that debt;
• The absence of a workable plan to address debt other than “a speculative intention to liquidate and thus cease operations;” and
• A habit of late filing of mandatory financial reports with the court.
That case had been on appeal last week when Bolduc filed anew in an effort to thwart a second planned foreclosure sale last week.
The two creditors had filed a motion to allow the public sale to go ahead July 21. Advertising had been completed and auction attendees had been en route to the site, according to court papers. A judge agreed, clearing the way for the sale of the property.
A hearing was held Thursday morning to hear Bolduc’s objections to the court’s lifting of the stay that allowed the foreclosure sale to take place.
E-Layne Moulders Corp. of Amityville, New York, and Schlesinger of Garden City, New York, paid $1 million at the foreclosure auction, less than what they were owed on the loan for the property, said their attorney, Andrew Sparks of Drummond & Drummond LLP in Portland.
Calls to Bolduc’s attorney were not returned.
In 2009, Bolduc borrowed $1.17 million for the property on a five-year note.
The town had a lien against Andover Covered Bridge for back property taxes. As of January, Andover owed nearly $6,000 in taxes on the pizza/deli building, more than $53,000 on the main house and land at 125 Pigeon Hill Road and nearly $4,000 on a cottage at that address.
Sparks said the creditor will have to take care of the liens on the property for taxes.
When the 2015 bankruptcy petition was filed, Penny Anderson, Peter Anderson and Emily Anderson were all named as creditors. Emily was one of two dozen passengers injured during the Oct. 11, 2014, hayride accident.
In October 2015, the Andersons were removed as creditors because they have decided to pursue their financial claims with Bolduc’s insurance company instead of through the bankruptcy court.
The New York creditors each had a half-interest in the property, and bankruptcy protection had forestalled any action by them to enforce any claim or lien, including forcing a foreclosure auction on the property, until Bolduc had time to reorganize.
An attorney with the Office of the U.S. Trustee had pushed for the court to dismiss the 2015 bankruptcy filing because, she said, Bolduc’s claims didn’t qualify for bankruptcy protection. The case, she said in court documents, “looks like a classic single asset real estate case and a two-party dispute. There’s been nothing to change our opinion on that. It’s unfortunate what happened at Pumpkin Land and it’s an unfortunate situation this debtor finds himself in, but it’s not uncommon, unfortunately.”
That attorney told the court the mortgage holders supported dismissal, too, so they could sell the property.
But, the attorney said, “the sole purpose of this case seems to be to hold off the secured creditor (mortgage holders) from being able to foreclose its interest in the real estate.”
Bolduc’s attorney for the 2015 petition agreed that liquidation of the property is the best outcome, but he argued that it should be done properly and under bankruptcy protection.
The attorney for the Office of the U.S. Trustee told the court that since the goal of all parties is to sell, “we think those goals are more properly achieved outside of the Bankruptcy Court” and that Bolduc’s desire to stall that sale for his own benefit is not “a proper purpose for a Chapter 11 case.”
In addition to the outstanding mortgage and property taxes owed, Bolduc and his wife, Kathie, are facing foreclosure of their family home at 840 Bakerstown Road in Poland. When the foreclosure was filed last year, the couple owed nearly $600,000 in principal and nearly $40,000 in interest on two mortgages with Androscoggin Savings Bank. A foreclosure auction is set for Aug. 17 at a Portland law firm.
The Bolducs are also in default of a loan by Tomi Chipman Inc., which sold its Pumpkin Land business to the couple in 2009, according to Androscoggin County Superior Court records. The sale included the business name, signs and equipment.
Harvest Hill Farm was charged with manslaughter, aggravated assault, driving to endanger and reckless driving as a criminal defendant stemming from the 2014 haunted hayride crash and faces more than $100,000 in possible fines.
Charette’s family recently filed a wrongful death action against Bolduc and two others, the driver of the Jeep involved in the accident and the mechanic who had worked on the vehicle. That case will be heard in Kennebec County Superior Court.
cwilliams@sunjournal.com
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