A Gillette, Wyoming, real estate agent charged with identity theft is trying to get a phone company to give up nearly two years’ worth of cellphone records for a key witness against her.
Tami Hinson, 58, was charged in December with six felonies, including three counts of identity theft and another three of forgery, on allegations that she forged the signatures of other real estate agents to win a higher commission on home sales. She has pleaded not guilty, and her trial is set for Oct. 7 in Campbell County District Court in Gillette.
Her attorney, Ryan Patrick Healy, filed a motion for a subpoena last month to ask TracFone Wireless to give phone records for Michael “MG” Stellpflug from Nov. 1, 2022, through July 23, 2024, and to include dates, durations and phone numbers on all phone calls, and dates, phone numbers and contents of all text messages.
Stellpflug had turned Hinson in to law enforcement when he suspected her of using his and others’ signatures to reap extra commission payouts on property sales, court documents say.
Hinson in turn alleged that Stellpflug has harassed her in various ways, and she applied for and received a stalking protection order against Stellpflug. He denies and refuted her bases for the order.
Neither Healy nor Hinson immediately responded Friday afternoon to Cowboy State Daily messages requesting comment.
Prosecutor Says Nope
Campbell County Attorney Nathan Henkes disputed Healy’s motion in an Aug. 1 motion of his own, asking District Court Judge James Michael Causey to “quash” or stop the subpoena.
Henkes called the subpoena overbroad, a violation of privacy and said Healy’s request for TracFone to deliver Stellpflug’s phone data directly to his law office rather than the court is a violation of the rules of criminal procedure.
“Defendant neither seeks nor requests limitations or independent judicial review of the requested evidence,” says Henkes’ motion. “Instead, defendant demands over one year of telephone records from a victim in a criminal case, under the threat of penalty of law, which is extremely concerning to the state, because the subpoena process is acting in a manner to subvert the privacy interests of MG Stellpflug.”
The subpoena could yield personal identifying, medical and trade-related information, which then could be disseminated, says the document.
Hinson’s court file did not show a response by the judge as of Friday.
Wait A Second, This Is My Phone Number
Stellpflug checks the court case periodically, and when he saw the subpoena late last month, he was shocked, he told Cowboy State Daily on Friday.
“I’m like, ‘I’ve never seen one of these before,’” Stellpflug recalled. “Next thing … I’m like, ‘Wait a second now, this is my phone number.’”
He said Henkes let him know he’d be filing the motion to quash.
“But still – how is somebody even able to do that?” he asked.
Stellpflug noted he played a key role in Hinson’s case as the person who turned her in. He said he spent 2,200 hours last year investigating her acts, and has put in about 3,000 hours by now.
Stellpflug said he sees the subpoena as a sign of desperation.
More Than A Year Now
Gillette Police Department Detective Alan Stuber started investigating Hinson on May 4, 2023, after he heard from Stellpflug, who is a local real estate agent, according to a criminal affidavit filed in Hinson’s case.
Stellpflug claimed Hinson had used his personal information and that of two others, Chad Friedt and Will Collier, to gain thousands of dollars in commissions that weren’t hers.
Hinson owns 1st Class Realty and was working with PennyMac Loan Services LLC to buy and sell foreclosure homes, the affidavit says.
She’d get a certain percentage of commission if she was the buyer, but if the buyer was an outside real estate agent, the sale would have a higher percentage of commission, reportedly.
Hinson prepared a contract for a sale on Kimber Court in Gillette on Aug. 23, 2017, for $296,000, the affidavit says.
The multiple listing service showed Friedt as the buying agent, reportedly.
But Friedt denied being paid commission of about $5,328 on that sale, the affidavit says. He allegedly discovered the PennyMac Counter addendum summary for the sale bore his electronic signature as the “buyer’s agent.”
Friedt said it was indeed his electronic signature on the form, but the printed name and other details weren’t in his handwriting. He denied any involvement in the sale, says the affidavit.
“Chad’s name was used by Tami for her financial gain,” the affidavit alleges.
Next Realtor
The document says Hinson crafted a contract March 28, 2018, for the sale of a property on Timothy Street for $130,000. The commission was $2,484.
The multiple listing service showed Stellpflug as the buying agent, complete with his electronic signature, the affidavit alleges.
He denied ever signing this document.
Hinson prepared a contract to sell a property on Lakeland Hills Drive in Gillette on April 23, 2020, the document says.
The multiple listing service showed Collier as the buyer’s agent, along with his electronic signature.
Collier said he couldn’t remember signing the document, but that it was possible. He denied being part of the sale, the affidavit says.
It says the commission was about $3,587.
Permission, Actually
Detective Stuber wrote that for all three transfers, Hinson tried to “deceive” the loan company, PennyMac, and the individuals involved by changing the database in the multiple listing service, listing the male real estate agents as the selling members and then changing the “selling member” to herself.
The detective said he met with Hinson on May 15, 2023.
She said all three men were terminated before the contracts became final, the affidavit says.
“As the broker, I have the right to do anything I want with the information,” she allegedly said.
Stuber asked if Hinson could provide termination dates for the three men, “and she was not able to provide any documentation,” the detective wrote.
The affidavit says Hinson then said Friedt “was terminated” before his closings and Collier left before his last closing.
Stuber asked her why she changed the agent names in the database.
She said it was because the men no longer worked with her, the affidavit says.
Hinson allegedly said two of the men gave her permission to use their names, to help the company.
“They probably even signed the stuff themselves ’cause I’ve never forged anyone’s signature on anything,” she said, reportedly.
Each of the six felony charges against Hinson carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines. The case is ongoing.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
