An Arkansas man faces charges of theft and exploiting a vulnerable adult following an incident where he is alleged to have taken money from a woman trying to pay her rent.
Mark Quincy Matlock, 49, of Cabot, Arkansas, is charged with misdemeanor theft and felony-level exploitation of a vulnerable adult and is being held at the Sweetwater County Detention Center on a $25,000 cash or surety bond.
According to court documents, Matlock was the previous manager of the Regency of Wyoming trailer park outside Reliance, but had been let go from the company. On Aug. 15, 2021, Sweetwater County Sheriff Deputy Marie Mammano was dispatched to the trailer park’s office at 50 Reliance Road lot 1A regarding a larceny report and met with the manager Melissa Strock. Strock told the deputy she had taken over management from Matlock and she had seen discrepancies in rent payments. One of the trailer park’s tenants, Julie Prado, had not paid their rent for July or August, but was informed by Prado she had already paid Matlock for the year. Prado alleged Matlock told her to make a check out to him and he would cash the check and pay her rent account, writing a check for $6,370 to cover the entire year.
While Mammano was at the office, Matlock drove up and spoke with Mammano. According to court documents, Matlock said he had driven to the office to pay Prado’s rent and had two cashier checks for $540, causing Mammano to ask where the rest Prado’s money was. Matlock allegedly said he didn’t have it and said Regency didn’t take checks from Prado and two other renters because their checks bounced. He said he gave them the option to give him cash and he would pay it through his account, as the trailer court did not accept cash. The other two tenants opted to pay with cashier checks.
During an interview with Prado, she said she lived in the park since 2011 and had been in a car accident in 2020 that resulted in a head injury. As a result of the injury and being prescribed heavy medications, she asked Matlock to assist her in getting the rent paid. She alleged Matlock told her Regency had recently been sold to another company and by writing the check to him, he could easily pay her rent, though she later came to believe the claim was false after talking with Strock. She also said she had no reason to distrust Matlock because he was the landlord. After the interview, Prado also provided copies of the checks she had written.
Investigators also contacted a second person, Ben Lorenz, who had moved out of the park in June. He claimed an incident with Matlock occurred a few months prior when he had given Matlock a check for $350 on the seventh of an unspecified month. However, after checking his account about 10 days later, he noticed the check had not been processed and spent the money.
Matlock then told him the check had bounced and he needed to pay in cash. Lorenz said he paid $350 in cash to Matlock, but had later been contacted by Strock that he did not pay the lot rent for the month.
During a later phone interview between investigators and Matlock, he allegedly said he was angry with the company for firing him and decided not to give the money Prado had intended to use for the lot rent.
He also allegedly said he didn’t mean to put Prado in a financial bind, but he had several outstanding monthly bills he paid, including approximately $1,500 in child support and a $1,200 bill he owed for electricity and allegedly claimed he spent all the money from Prado’s check. He said he was giving the trailer court three $540 money orders to help pay for Prado’s rent before he was fired, saying he also wanted to pay Prado or the court back, but hadn’t been contacted by anyone asking for the money.
In regards to Lorenz, Matlock said he gave the $350 back to him by taping the cash to his front door. When told Lorenz hadn’t received the money, Matlock said the cash might have been taken from the front door of Lorenz’ residence.
Reader Comments(0)