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Man charged with threatening his agent over failed home transaction

Credit: Money Knack, www.moneyknack.com / Unsplash

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A man based in Delaware County, Indiana, who was arrested last month on fraud charges for writing bad checks, is now accused of threats lodged at area RE/MAX employees earlier this spring that ultimately led to a local branch being evacuated over fears of a potential attack, local news outlet Fox 59 reported Tuesday.

Richard E. Kellogg, who has lived in Yorktown and Muncie, Indiana, was arrested on felony counts of fraud on July 13 for passing a series of bad checks that failed to clear due to insufficient funds. For several months, Kellogg wrote bad checks, including one $74,000 check to buy a Chevrolet Silverado and a $14,000 check to repay someone from whom he borrowed funds for what he claimed were probation fees, according to court documents.

On April 14, a RE/MAX office in Muncie shut down for the day out of safety concerns after an agent received threatening text messages that have now been tied to Kellogg.

Kellogg reportedly attempted to purchase a property with a Muncie RE/MAX agent, but when the deal fell through as a result of Kellogg’s financial woes, Kellogg threatened the same agent who assisted him, court documents show.

The RE/MAX agent was not the only person Kellogg has threatened by text, however.

In April, Kellogg also sent threatening texts to an Eaton couple regarding their grandson, claiming the grandson had been “playing games on his debt.”

He went on to threaten to burn several of the family members’ houses down, and even shoot children.

“How many babies she got?” Kellogg asked about one family member. “Clip holds 30 rounds.”

“Your [sic] all dying by sunset,” Kellogg also alleged said.

Kellogg is currently in Delaware County Jail on a $10,000 bond. He now faces a total of eight counts of fraud, three counts of theft and three counts of intimidation.

Email Lillian Dickerson