Don Stilwell

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FORT MYERS — As fresh fraud charges added last week in a federal indictment raised the stakes for Fort Myers real estate agent Samir Cabrera, the details of the indictment also raised new questions about Lee County Manager Don Stilwell, Cabrera’s father-in-law.

Two checks written out to Stilwell in the spring of 2006 for a total of more than $120,000 were described in the indictment as instances of money laundering, and the transfers form two of the 12 fraud counts now facing Cabrera.

Questions of what the money was for, and exactly how the money was related to the two commercial land deals along Fiddlesticks Boulevard that Cabrera is charged with running as a scheme to defraud investors, remain unanswered.

Stilwell’s attorney, Patrick Geraghty, said Wednesday that explanations would have to wait at least another day, until Stilwell meets with an independent investigator to answer questions about his role in his son-in-law’s land deals.

That interview is scheduled for Thursday with Michael Crain, an accountant and financial investigator from Fort Lauderdale, who is looking into Stilwell’s investments at the request of Lee County commissioners.

Until then, Geraghty is not talking. “I’m sure you can understand why,” he said.

Last week, in confirming that the checks mentioned in the indictment were in fact checks made out to Stilwell, Geraghty said only that the payments, which were made from the personal account of Cabrera and his wife, Jessica Stilwell, had nothing to do with Daniels View.

That’s the project that the independent investigator was asked to focus on by county commissioners.

The investigation, which is separate from the criminal case facing Cabrera, was one that commissioners voted for at a special meeting on July 22.

Crain, of the Financial Valuation Group, was hired for the job soon after. He is being paid $315 per hour for his work.

His task, according to a memo from the Lee County attorney’s office, is to look at “certain beliefs or allegations that Mr. Stilwell had a role in an investment group, Daniels View LLC, and that he possibly lied to the Board of County Commissioners at two regular board meetings concerning his involvement with the associated real property.”

Stilwell had been questioned about his role in that project twice at public meetings, most recently in early 2008.

He initially described himself as not “involved” with the deals, and later described himself as a “passive investor.” He has said he never lied to commissioners about his involvement with the Daniels View project, a piece of land that could have increased in value if the county approved a road extension to be built through the property.

In addition to a $200,000 investment Stilwell made with his son-in-law in 2005 that later transferred to Daniels View, Stilwell also had invested $100,000 in a project next door, at 13701 Fiddlesticks Blvd.

Altogether, three neighboring properties that Cabrera acquired in 2006 could all have increased in value with improved road access from the extension of a county road called Three Oaks Parkway. That could have benefitted investors in the individual projects, including Stilwell and Assistant County Manger Holly Schwartz.

That didn’t happen, though, as Cabrera’s projects failed quickly, losing investors money.