Both are expected to turn themselves in, today
Wanted poster from www.northerncaliforniamostwanted.org.
By Allen Payton
The former general manager and PGA golf pro at the now closed Roddy Ranch Golf Club in Antioch, Kevin Fitzgerald, is a wanted fugitive according to the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office. According to the website www.northerncaliforniamostwanted.org, the 46-year-old is “Wanted by the Contra Costa County District Attorney” and that he “conspired to commit loan fraud, file a false police report, commit insurance fraud, divert construction funds and defraud an elder.”
Also wanted for the same charges is Mark Ellis Mattson.
Mark Mattson
The same website states, “Mark Mattson a solar contractor while working at the former Roddy Ranch Golf Course LLC conspired to commit loan fraud, commit insurance fraud, divert construction funds and defraud an elder. Mark Mattson lives in San Diego and may work at San Diego State University as an instructor.”
The “elder” referred to in the charges is Jack Roddy, the owner of the golf course.
When reached for comment, Roddy stated, “Kevin and the other guy are supposed to be turning themselves in, today.”
That other guy is “Mark Mattson, the owner of a solar company,” Roddy said, “He’s under a $750,000 bail, who colluded with Kevin on this. They both have multiple felonies they’re wanted for.”
“They were supposed to turn themselves in, last week, but didn’t do it,” he continued. “They hurt a lot of people. Hurt Donna (Jack’s wife) and me, bad. Hurt a lot of golfers. Just did a lot of damage. But they’re going to pay the price.”
Asked about Roddy’s plans for the 235-acre golf course land, after he shut down the operations last summer, he responded with a laugh, “There are a lot of cattle getting fat up there. It wasn’t working, so we shut it done. We decided to put it back to the way it was.”
Asked if he had anything else to say, Roddy said “I’m going to let the law do my talking. I’ll let the cops and the legal system do their work.”
In 2014, Fitzgerald’s company, Roddy Ranch Golf Management leased the golf course from Roddy’s company Roddy Ranch, LLC. In July, Roddy took back control of the course and brought in Touchstone Golf to operate the course. They discovered the course was financially unable to continue operations.
An email message to golf club members on August 6, 2016 stated, “we have discovered that the golf course is not financially viable as a going concern. This is due to outstanding debts of the previous operator and the high cost of irrigation water for the golf course.” The course was closed on August 11th. (See related article)
Fitzgerald and his family rented a house on Roddy’s personal property, and was a driver of one of the race cars owned by Roddy Ranch Racing, LLC, which competed at the Antioch Speedway inside the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds.
2:13 PM UPDATE – FELONY WARRANTS ISSUED FOR THE ARRESTS OF KEVIN FITZGERALD AND MARK MATTSON (RODDY RANCH FRAUD)
Earlier today, Contra Costa County District Attorney Mark A. Peterson announced that felony arrest warrants have been issued for Kevin Fitzgerald, age 45, of Brentwood, the former general manager of Roddy Ranch Golf Course, LLC, in Antioch; and for Mark Mattson, age 56, a general contractor residing in Escondido, California.
Both Fitzgerald and Mattson are charged with felony counts of Grand Theft by Embezzlement, Attempted Grand Theft, Diversion of Construction Funds, Insurance Fraud, and Elder Financial Theft. Fitzgerald is also charged with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor. The victims are the Roddy Ranch Golf Course, LLC, and Mr. Jack Roddy, a long-time resident of the county. The charges stem from the abrupt closure of the Roddy Ranch Golf Course in 2016 after it was learned that Fitzgerald had allegedly diverted $200,000 of an $800,000 loan the Roddys had obtained to build a solar project on the golf course property.
Both Fitzgerald and Mattson, the solar contractor, submitted false construction documents to the loan company claiming that solar panels had been purchased and installed on the Golf Course property. This was done so the loan proceeds totaling $699,000 would be released to Mattson. Mattson did purchase and install some solar panels, but, not the 344 panels claimed in the construction documents. Mattson then gave $200,000 to Fitzgerald who used some of the proceeds for the golf course and to continue making the monthly lease payments to the Roddys. Fitzgerald embezzled the rest of the money through large cash withdrawals and transfers to his personal accounts.
In December 2015, Fitzgerald and Mattson attempted to get the remaining $93,000 of the loan money from the lender. The lender made inquiries with PGE, the City and Antioch, and then with Mrs. Donna Roddy who told them the project wasn’t complete and, in fact, had barely been started.
When the lender refused to pay the remaining $93,000, Fitzgerald damaged the 12 solar panels that had been installed and then filed a false police report claiming the theft of 344 solar panels that were allegedly on the property awaiting installation. These panels had never been purchased.
Fitzgerald filed an insurance claim for the purported vandalism and theft. In April 2016, he received $267,000 as an insurance settlement from Liberty Mutual. Fitzgerald gave Mattson $40,000 of this money, transferred $55,000 to his (Fitzgerald’s) personal checking account. The remainder was used for golf course expenses and to pay “dividends” to five private investors. None of the insurance money was used towards the solar project.
Ultimately, after these series of crimes, the Roddys brought in a professional golf course management company to try to salvage the golf course operation. These attempts proved unsuccessful and the golf course closed in August of 2016.
Arrest Warrants have been issued with a bail set at $775,000 each for Fitzgerald and Mattson. Local law enforcement and the United States Marshal’s Service are attempting to locate and arrest both individuals.
Inquiries concerning this prosecution should be addressed to Deputy District Attorney Dodie Katague of the District Attorney’s Special Operations Unit. He can be reached at (925) 957-2208.
Note: For the purpose of full disclosure, Roddy and Fitzgerald have been long-time, personal friends of the writer of this article.
I wanted to provide you with some additional information regarding Kevin Fitzgerald. In 2014 Kevin started a local travel ball organization called Roddy Ranch Baseball. My son was the first of 2 teams with this new organization. Kevin made a lot of promises on growing RR Baseball, including building a training facility at the Roddy Ranch Golf Course. In 2015 we were told we got the green light to start fundraising for this training facility. We attended a ground breaking ceremony for the training facility, where both Kevin Fitzgerald and Jack Roddy spoke about how dedicated they were to expanding the organization and again provide this big “picture” for this kids. My son’s team alone raised more than $2000 to go towards the facility. Needless to say one day in August of 2015 we were told Kevin shut down the organization. Everyone had questions, but we never got any answers. The biggest question was, where did the monies go that were fundraised for the training facility? In addition to this occurring Kevin Fitzgerald emailed quite a few unethical, demeaning, disgusting emails to our coach accusing him of very inappropriate things that were so far from the truth and included saying things about his wife. Here is a man who runs this well-known golf course and emails such nasty things to someone who is dedicating his time to the community and the kids.
I would like to stay anonymous but wanted to share this story because we had a bunch a kids hurt and upset by Kevin Fitzgerald.
Jack and Donna owned 0% of the golf course lol.. I have the bankruptcy papers! Jack and Donna sold all of Kevin’s assets which would in the court of law be considered grand theft! Mark mattson was PART of a corporation and was not a sole proprietor.. he did not own the solar company.. IF YOU WERE TO LOOK, you would actually see most of that solar job is done.. actually if I wanted to I could turn it on as it sits but Kevin never paid our solar company so why let them profit and file bk then never pay us! We were awaiting payment on change orders that jack and Kevin decided to do, “oh, I have that paper work too!” The 40,000$ that you speak of was not for insurance it was a legal debt that was only partially paid.. T&m was owed over 175k$ and we asked for a min payment of 75000$ but got 40,000 instead which forced us to pay debts we accured from the project and filed bk on our corporation! The bk courts notified jack, Donna and Kevin seeing we never finished the project.. we filed as a non collectible debt owed to us and a debt that we couldn’t finish the project with the payments received from them! They “jack,Donna,Kevin never responded to these courts” In lamens terms it takes 1 week to install the solar panels but takes months and months for the electrical to be installed not to mention all the ground mounts to be cemented in, blue prints and permitting, “did I mention I have all the papers from the city inspector checking off the work we completed” I have multiple time lapse videos professionally and independently recorded to prove the work was completed.. I personally installed the panels and supervised the work preformed there! But tell jack and Donna they are not the victims yet Mark mattson is! Had a stroke in jail because they wouldn’t give him his diabetes meds.. pays to be on house arrest! Never has been read his rights and yet to hear what charges have been filed! One day In the not to distant future jack and Donna will get on the stand and perjure their selfs, Kevin will be free and sue the hell out of them and they will lose everything! When that day comes will you write a story as bias as this one? Is this not America? Are we not innocent till proven guilty!? Slander and libel are a hell of a thing to prove but these allegations from the roddys are far more far-fetched! Mark did nothing but his contractual agreements but Kevin did not fulfill his end of the contract.. jack and Donna were not in contract with T&m nor did they even own one percent of roddy ranch golf course! Soon my dear friend facts will come to light.. have a blessed day.
Sincerely,
a long time contra costa resident!
Contra Costa resident,
Thank you for reading the Herald and taking the time to offer your comment.
To be clear, most of the information in the article is from a press release by the Contra Costa District Attorney and announcements on the Northern California Most Wanted website, which is why the link to it is provided. That site is described as follows: “This website has been created by the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC) and the Northern California High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (NCHIDTA) in partnership with agencies identified below for citizens to report tips intended to aid in the apprehension of the Most Wanted Fugitives in the Northern California area.”
Furthermore, “The NCRIC was established by the Northern California High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (NC HIDTA) Executive Board in 2007, combining the personnel, intelligence and investigative resources of the region’s Investigatve Support Center (ISC), the Northern California Regional Threat Assessment Center (NC RTAC) and Terrorism Early Warning Groups (TEWGs).
NCRIC is an integral component of The National Fusion Center Enterprise, is part of the State Threat Assessment System (STAS) and is one of 78 state governor designated and DHS [Department of Homeland Security] recognized fusion centers in the United States.”
Whatever the details of the case, hopefully it will all be revealed in court and justice will be served. But, you need to be able to back up your accusations against Jack and Donna Roddy and claim that they didn’t own the golf course.
As an update to the article, since it’s publication, both Kevin Fitzgerald and Mark Mattson were captured according to the Northern California Most Wanted website, which can be viewed, here – https://northerncaliforniamostwanted.org/default.aspx?menuitemid=721&category=LawEnforcementFugitives
Allen Payton, Publisher