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HOA Karen Sent Her Son to Take My Lake Cabin — She Picked the Police Chief’s Property — Transcript

by HOA Power Breakers · 8,268 words · 1,249 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Get your crap out of that cabin by
0:01Friday or my son's hauling it to the
0:03dump himself.
0:05>> Ma'am, that's my cabin.
0:07>> That rotting fish shack? Every time the
0:10wind shifts, the whole cove smells your
0:12garbage dock.
0:13>> It's my property.
0:15>> My son's already inside boxing your
0:17junk. One kick and the door came right
0:20off. That tells you what your little
0:21shack is worth.
0:23>> He kicked my door in?
0:25>> Nobody on this lake even knew you
0:27existed until your dump started killing
0:29property values. Every homeowner on this
0:32cove wants you gone.
0:33>> Ma'am
0:33>> Save it. You should be down on your
0:35knees thanking me instead of standing
0:37here running your mouth.
0:39>> I walked away.
0:40The motion camera under the eave had
0:42been running since dawn and 48 days
0:44later, what it recorded played in front
0:46of 22 of her neighbors. Have you ever
0:48watched an HOA Karen's face crack the
0:51second she finds out her son just kicked
0:53down the police chief's door? Because
0:55you're about to. Hit subscribe. You do
0:57not want to miss what happens to her.
0:59What would you do if someone broke into
1:01your property while you were gone? Drop
1:03it in the comments and tell me where
1:05you're watching from. My father built
1:07that cabin in 1986. Cut every board
1:10himself, drove every nail, spent three
1:12summers getting the dock right because
1:14he said a crooked dock was an insult to
1:16the lake. Earl Shelton wasn't a man who
1:18did things halfway. He passed two years
1:21ago. Left me the cabin and a tackle box
1:23full of hand-tied lures he'd been making
1:25since before I was born. Some of them
1:28still smelled like his garage WD-40 and
1:30cedar shavings. That specific mix that
1:33no store sells because it only exists in
1:35one place on Earth. I'm Kyle Shelton.
1:38I've been in law enforcement for 14
1:40years. Worked my way up from patrol to
1:42chief of police in Dawson County. But at
1:45Pine Hollow Lake, nobody knew that.
1:47Nobody needed to. The cabin was the one
1:50place in my life where I wasn't the guy
1:52people called at 2:00 in the morning
1:53when somebody drove through a guard
1:55rail. At the lake, I was just Earl's
1:58son. The quiet guy who showed up Friday
2:00evenings and left Sunday mornings. The
2:03guy whose dock creaked when the waves
2:04hit it because his old man built it out
2:06of white pine instead of
2:08pressure-treated lumber. I never
2:09corrected it. I liked the sound. Pine
2:12Hollow Lake had about 40 homes, most of
2:14them small cabins like mine, clustered
2:17around a spring-fed lake an hour north
2:19of Atlanta. Nice area, quiet. The kind
2:22of place where people waved at each
2:24other from their docks and nobody locked
2:26their doors. Then Brenda Holt moved in.
2:28Brenda bought the biggest lot on the
2:30hill 6 years ago, the one that
2:32overlooked the whole lake like a
2:33watchtower. Within 8 months, she'd
2:35gotten herself elected HOA president.
2:38Within a year, people stopped waving.
2:41Here's how Brenda operated. She'd find
2:43something wrong with your property, your
2:44mailbox post was leaning, your boat
2:47cover was faded, your porch light was
2:49the wrong shade of white. She'd send a
2:51violation letter with a fine attached.
2:53You'd call to dispute it and she'd say,
2:56"Submit form 14C and the board will
2:58review it at the next meeting." There
3:00was no form 14C. It didn't exist in the
3:03CC&Rs. It didn't exist anywhere. But by
3:06the time you figured that out, the fine
3:08had been compounding at $250 a day. And
3:12here's the thing most people don't know.
3:14An HOA can only enforce rules that
3:16actually exist in its own governing
3:18documents. If the form they're
3:19referencing isn't in the CC&Rs, the fine
3:22is void, dead on arrival. But Brenda
3:25counted on people not knowing that. She
3:27counted on them getting scared and
3:29paying up, or better yet, selling.
3:32Because that was the real game. Brenda's
3:34son, Travis Holt, was a realtor. Not a
3:37great one. The kind who wore too much
3:39cologne and called every property a
3:41hidden gem. But Travis had one advantage
3:43most realtors didn't. His mother ran the
3:45HOA. Every family Brenda squeezed hard
3:48enough eventually listed their cabin.
3:50And every time they did, Travis was
3:52right there with an offer through his
3:53LLC, a company called Lakeview Holdings.
3:56Three families on the south shore had
3:58sold in the last 4 years. All below
4:01market value. All to Lakeview Holdings.
4:04I didn't know any of that yet. All I
4:06knew was that on a Tuesday in April, I
4:08found a violation letter taped to my
4:10cabin door. The charge?
4:13Unapproved exterior modification. My
4:15crime? I'd replaced 12 rotting dock
4:18planks. The fine was 250 a day until I
4:21restored the original structure, meaning
4:23put the rotten wood back. I called the
4:25number on the letter. Brenda picked up
4:27on the first ring, like she'd been
4:29waiting. "You should have submitted form
4:3114C before touching anything, Mr.
4:34Shelton. Rules are rules." I asked her
4:36where I could find form 14C. "Check the
4:39website." There was no website. I
4:41checked. I hung up, walked down to the
4:44dock, and stood there for a while. The
4:46smell of diesel from my father's old
4:48fishing boat still hung around the
4:50mooring cleat. He'd sold the boat 3
4:52years before he died, but the scent
4:54stayed, soaked into the wood like a
4:56ghost that wasn't ready to leave. The
4:58gravel crunched under my boots as I
5:00walked back to the truck. $250 a day for
5:04fixing a dock on my own property. On my
5:07dead father's property. I didn't know it
5:09then, but Brenda Holt had just made the
5:11worst decision of her life. 3 weeks
5:13after the violation letter, I drove out
5:16to the cabin on a Friday evening and
5:18found the road blocked. Not
5:19metaphorically blocked. Physically
5:22blocked. Three concrete barriers, the
5:24kind you see around construction sites,
5:26sitting across the only access road to
5:28the South Shore cabins. There was a sign
5:31zip tied to the middle one. "HOA
5:33maintenance. No access." I parked my
5:35truck 400 yards out and walked in
5:37carrying a cooler and a duffel bag. The
5:40gravel turned to mud about halfway. It
5:42had rained that morning, and by the time
5:43I reached the cabin, my boots looked
5:45like I'd been wading through a swamp.
5:47The mud had that thick iron smell, the
5:49kind that sticks to your laces and
5:51doesn't come out for three washes. I
5:53wasn't the only one affected. My
5:55neighbor Norma Tate, 72 years old, been
5:58on this lake longer than anyone had to
5:59drag her grocery cart through that same
6:01mud path because she couldn't drive to
6:03her front door anymore. I found her
6:05sitting on her porch that evening,
6:07breathing hard, a bag of canned goods
6:10sitting in a red wagon beside her.
6:12"Brenda put those up Tuesday." Norma
6:14said. "Told everyone it was a
6:16maintenance vote. Four to one." "There
6:18was a vote?" "Honey, I've been on this
6:20lake 31 years. There was no vote." I
6:23checked the meeting minutes the next
6:24morning. Pulled them from the county
6:26recorder's office, which is where HOAs
6:28in Georgia are required to file them.
6:30The only item discussed at last month's
6:32board meeting was a 45-minute argument
6:35about whether the communal trash bins
6:37should be painted eggshell or ivory. No
6:40resolution was reached, by the way. The
6:42bins are still unpainted. That was the
6:44whole meeting. No mention of road
6:46barriers, no vote, no maintenance plan.
6:49I didn't move the barriers. I knew
6:52better than that touching them would
6:54give Brenda a reason to call me the
6:55aggressor, and women like Brenda always
6:58have the phone number for somebody who
6:59will listen. Instead, I took
7:02photographs, date-stamped every one.
7:05Walked the road with my phone and
7:07recorded the mud, the barriers, the
7:09sign. Documented the distance from the
7:11barriers to my cabin, 412 yards.
7:14Documented the wagon tracks where Norma
7:16had been hauling her groceries like she
7:18was living in 1840. Then I drove around
7:21the lake to the back access road, the
7:23county maintained road that ran along
7:25the east side.
7:27Except, when I got there, I found
7:29another sign. Private HOA
7:32members only. That's when something
7:34clicked. I grew up around county
7:36government. My father served on the
7:38zoning board for 6 years before he
7:39retired.
7:41And one thing I learned sitting at that
7:42dinner table was this.
7:44A county road is public property. It's
7:46maintained by taxpayer money. A private
7:49HOA has exactly zero authority to
7:51restrict access to a public road. None.
7:54If you ever see a sign like that, call
7:57your county clerk's office. They'll have
7:59it removed faster than you can finish
8:00your coffee, and the HOA will be the one
8:03paying the bill. I took a picture of
8:05that sign, too. Added it to the folder.
8:07That evening, I sat on my dock, the the
8:10one I'd apparently committed a crime by
8:12repairing, and Norma came over with two
8:14mugs of coffee that tasted like they'd
8:16been brewed sometime during the Carter
8:17administration, but I wasn't drinking it
8:19for the flavor. "You know she's done
8:21this before." Norma said. "The
8:23barriers?" "Everything. The fines, the
8:26pressure, the letters. She tried to get
8:28me to sign a voluntary sale agreement 2
8:30years ago. Told me my cabin was a
8:33liability concern, and the board could
8:35force a sale for safety reasons." "What
8:38did you say?" I told her I'd been paying
8:39property taxes since before she knew
8:41what a mortgage was. She didn't like
8:43that. Norma took a sip of that terrible
8:45coffee and looked out at the water.
8:47Three families on the north side all
8:49sold to some company, Lakeview
8:52something. All of them under asking
8:54price. Every single one had violation
8:56letters first. Dave Morrison, you
8:58remember Dave? He got fined for having a
9:01flag pole that was 4 in too tall. 4 in."
9:04"He sold 3 months later. A flag pole. 4
9:08in."
9:09I filed that away. Didn't say anything
9:11yet. The pattern was already forming,
9:14but patterns don't mean anything without
9:16proof. And I wasn't the type to make
9:18accusations I couldn't back up. That
9:20weekend I installed a second motion
9:22camera, this one pointed at the dock.
9:24The first was already running under the
9:26eve of the cabin, mounted 6 months ago
9:29after somebody left a dead fish on my
9:30welcome mat. I never found out who did
9:33that, but I had my suspicions.
9:35The kind that too much cologne. I drove
9:37home Sunday morning. The barriers were
9:40still there. Brenda's house sat up on
9:42the hill, lights on, curtains pulled
9:45back just enough for someone to stand
9:47behind them and watch the road. She was
9:49watching. Good.
9:51I was recording. The next Friday I came
9:54out to the cabin and found Travis Holt
9:56standing on my front porch. Not near my
9:58porch.
9:59On it. Boots on the boards my father
10:01laid 40 years ago. Next to him was Glenn
10:04Pritchard, the only locksmith in the
10:06county, holding a drill and looking like
10:08he'd rather be anywhere else on the
10:10planet. Travis was holding a stack of
10:12papers and wearing a smile that probably
10:14worked on first-time home buyers, but
10:16didn't do much for me. Mr. Shelton, HOA
10:20has authorized securing non-compliant
10:22properties. We're changing the locks. I
10:24looked at the drill in Glenn's hand,
10:26looked at my front door, looked back at
10:28Travis. This is my cabin. I didn't
10:31authorize a lock change. Travis held up
10:33the papers like they were a badge. Board
10:36resolution. Signed by the president.
10:38Your mother. The board president. Glenn
10:41shifted his weight. He was a big man,
10:43mid-60s, hands like catcher's mitts.
10:46He'd been changing locks in this county
10:48since before Travis was born, and he
10:50looked at me with the expression of a
10:52man who knew exactly what was wrong with
10:54this picture. Sir, Glenn said,
10:57is this your place? Yes, sir. It is.
11:00Glenn set down his drill. Then I'm not
11:02touching your lock. 31 years I've been
11:05doing this. Not once have I changed a
11:07lock for somebody who doesn't own the
11:08house. I'm not starting today. Travis
11:11pulled out his phone right there on my
11:13porch, hit speaker. I heard the ring,
11:16and then Brenda's voice came through
11:17sharp enough to cut glass. Is it done?
11:20Glenn won't do it. The owner's here.
11:23Just drill it out yourself. I'll handle
11:25the paperwork later. I could smell
11:27Travis's cologne from 4 ft away,
11:29something expensive that smelled like a
11:31department store elevator. Glenn was
11:33already packing up his bag, shaking his
11:35head. 31 years, Glenn muttered on his
11:37way down the steps. Lord have mercy.
11:40Travis stood there for another 10
11:42seconds, took three photos of my cabin
11:44with his phone, and left without a word.
11:47His truck kicked up gravel all the way
11:49up the hill to his mother's place. That
11:51night I pulled the camera footage from
11:53the past 2 weeks. What I found made me
11:55sit down. Travis had been to my cabin
11:58twice before, both times during the week
12:00when I wasn't there. The first time, he
12:02walked around the property, looked
12:04through every window, took photos. The
12:07second time, he tried the front door,
12:09jiggled the handle for a good 15
12:11seconds. The camera caught his face
12:13clear as daylight. I copied everything
12:16onto a USB drive and locked it in my
12:18fire safe. Then I did something anyone
12:20can do for free. I went to the Georgia
12:22Secretary of State website and looked up
12:24Lakeview Holdings LLC registered agent
12:28Travis Holt registered address 114
12:31Hillcrest Drive Pine Hollow Lake Brenda
12:33Holt's house. I pulled the property
12:35records for the three cabins Norma had
12:37mentioned. All three sold to Lakeview
12:39Holdings LLC. The first one went for
12:42118,000.
12:44Appraised value was 195. The second sold
12:48for 91,000 appraised at 155. The third
12:52104,000
12:54appraised at 170. Every sale was 30 to
12:5740% below market and every contract
13:00included a line item I'd never seen
13:02before HOA compliance settlement. That
13:05was the discount. That was how Brenda
13:07squeezed the price down. She fined
13:09people until they couldn't afford to
13:10stay. Then Travis swooped in with a
13:13lowball offer that included settling the
13:15fines as part of the purchase price. I
13:18sat back and looked at the lake map on
13:19my laptop.
13:21The South Shore had six lots total.
13:23Three already belonged to Lakeview
13:25Holdings. Mine was lot 14. Norma's was
13:28lot 15. There was one more on the far
13:31end lot 16 owned by a couple who lived
13:34in Florida and came up twice a year. If
13:37Lakeview Holdings got my lot and Norma's
13:39lot they'd own the entire South Shore.
13:42Every inch of waterfront the kind of
13:44parcel a developer would pay seven
13:46figures for. Here's something worth
13:48knowing. You can look up any LLC's
13:50registered agent on your state Secretary
13:52of State website. It's public. It's free
13:56and it takes about three minutes. If
13:58someone is pressuring you to sell your
13:59property and a company name keeps coming
14:01up look it up. You might be surprised
14:04whose name is on the paperwork. I wasn't
14:06surprised but I was starting to get a
14:09clear picture and the picture looked a
14:11lot like fraud. The week after Travis
14:13tried to change my locks I got pulled
14:15into a double homicide investigation in
14:17the next county over. I won't get into
14:19the details. That's not this story, but
14:21it meant I didn't get to the cabin for 9
14:22days. On day six, my phone buzzed during
14:26a briefing. Alert from the motion
14:28camera. I glanced at the screen, saw
14:30movement on the porch, but I was in the
14:32middle of coordinating a search warrant
14:34with three agencies and 200 square miles
14:36of rural county between me and that
14:38cabin. By the time the briefing ended
14:40and I checked the app, the camera had
14:42stopped recording. The feed was dead.
14:45Somebody had pulled the power cable, but
14:47the camera on the dock, the one nobody
14:49knew about, was solar powered. And it
14:51was still running. I called Norma. Kyle,
14:54I was about to call you. That boy's been
14:56here since 8:00 this morning. He's got
14:58two men with him. They're carrying boxes
15:00out of your cabin. I left the briefing,
15:02told my deputy I had a personal
15:04emergency, drove 68 minutes doing things
15:07with a speed limit I shouldn't admit on
15:09camera. When I pulled up to the south
15:11shore, I could see the pickup truck
15:13backed up to my cabin door. The tailgate
15:15was down. Three men were loading boxes,
15:18my boxes, my father's boxes onto the
15:20bed. The front door wasn't just open, it
15:23was off the hinges. One hinge was still
15:25attached to the frame, bent sideways.
15:27The jam was cracked right down the
15:29middle. They'd kicked it in. I parked,
15:31got out, and walked up the path. The
15:34gravel crunched. Travis heard it and
15:36turned around. He had one of my father's
15:38fishing rods in his hand, carrying it by
15:40the tip like it was a broomstick. Mr.
15:42Shelton, we're clearing the structure
15:44per board resolution. Put the rod down,
15:47Travis. This isn't your decision
15:49anymore. The board. Put the rod down. He
15:54set it on the tailgate. I could see
15:56inside the truck bed. My father's
15:58toolbox, the green metal one with the
15:59dent on the left side where he dropped
16:01it off a ladder in 1994. A cardboard box
16:04full of old lures, some still in their
16:06original packaging. A wooden box, small,
16:10about the size of a shoebox, the one my
16:12father made by hand the summer I turned
16:1410. Inside were the first fishing lures
16:16I ever tied. He'd kept every single one.
16:19Travis's helper tossed another box onto
16:22the pile. The wooden box bounced against
16:24the side of the truck bed. I heard it
16:26crack. The sound was small, like a
16:28knuckle popping, but I heard it from 20
16:30ft away. I stood there. That's what
16:32people don't understand about moments
16:34like this. I had every legal right to
16:36order those men off my property. I'm the
16:39chief of police of this county. I could
16:41have had deputies here in 15 minutes. I
16:43could have had Travis in handcuffs
16:45before lunch. But here's what would have
16:47happened next. Travis's lawyer would
16:49have argued that I used my position to
16:51settle a personal grudge. That I
16:53arrested a man on my own property for a
16:56case I was personally involved in.
16:58That's textbook conflict of interest. A
17:00first-year public defender would have
17:02gotten the charges dropped before the
17:04arraignment was over. So, I did the
17:06hardest thing I've ever done in my
17:07career. I watched. I stood at the bottom
17:10of my own porch steps and watched three
17:12strangers carry my dead father's
17:14belongings out of the cabin he built
17:15with his hands. I counted the boxes.
17:18Nine. I watched Travis take a photo of
17:20the empty interior and text it to
17:22someone. I watched his helper lock a
17:24padlock, their padlock, onto my broken
17:26door. And then they left. Travis didn't
17:28look at me when he drove past. His truck
17:31kicked up dust and gravel, and the sound
17:33of it faded up the hill toward his
17:34mother's house. I went inside through
17:37the back window they'd left unlatched.
17:39The cabin smelled different now. That
17:41old cedar and WD40 smell was buried
17:45under boot prints and diesel from the
17:47hand tools they'd used on the door
17:48frame. The walls were bare where my
17:50father's photos had hung. The nails were
17:53still there. Little silver dots in the
17:55knotty pine holding nothing. I didn't
17:57touch anything. I took photos. Every
18:00room, every angle. Then I checked the
18:02dock camera. Solar powered, still
18:05running, lens pointed right at the porch
18:07and the access path. 2 hours and 14
18:09minutes of footage. Every face, every
18:12box, every trip to the truck. Travis's
18:15text to his mother, his screen was
18:17visible for 3 seconds. Enough to read
18:19the words, "Done. Place is cleared. I
18:22copied the footage to a second USB
18:24drive.
18:25Drove to Norma's. She was sitting on her
18:27porch. "I saw the whole thing," she
18:30said. "I wrote down the plate numbers,
18:32too. Both trucks." I sat in Norma's
18:34rocker and drank a cup of her terrible
18:36coffee and didn't say a word for about
18:3810 minutes. "You're going to get it all
18:40back," Norma said. "I know." "Then why
18:43do you look like that?" "Because the box
18:45he cracked was the one my dad made me."
18:48Norma reached over and put her hand on
18:49my wrist. Didn't say anything. Just sat
18:52there with me while the lake turned
18:53orange in the last light. Later that
18:55night, Brenda Holt sent an email to
18:58every homeowner on Pine Hollow Lake.
19:00Subject line: Lot 14 update. The body
19:03read: Non-compliant structure at Lot 14
19:06has been cleared per board resolution
19:082024-09.
19:11Thank you for your patience during this
19:12process. She CC'd Travis from his Lake
19:15View Holdings email address. Assigned
19:17confession. Sent to 22 witnesses. She
19:20just didn't know it yet. The Monday
19:22after Travis cleared my cabin, I took a
19:24personal day and drove to the Dawson
19:26County Clerk's office.
19:28I wasn't there as the Chief of Police. I
19:30was there as a property owner. Any
19:32citizen can walk in and request public
19:34records. I just happened to know exactly
19:37what to ask for. First thing I pulled
19:39was the HOA registration for Pine Hollow
19:41Lake Community Association. In Georgia,
19:44every HOA has to file with the state to
19:47maintain its legal standing. Active
19:49registration means the board can enforce
19:51rules, levy fines, place liens. Expired
19:55registration means they can't do any of
19:57that. They're just a group of people
19:59with opinions and a letterhead. Pine
20:01Hollow Lake's registration had expired
20:0318 months ago. Brenda never renewed it.
20:06I sat at that clerk's counter and read
20:07the date three times. 18 months. Every
20:11fine she'd issued since then, including
20:13mine, was legally unenforceable. Every
20:16board resolution, including the one
20:17Travis used to justify breaking into my
20:20cabin, was worth less than the paper it
20:22was printed on. Brenda had been running
20:24a government that didn't exist and
20:26nobody had thought to check. The clerk,
20:29a woman named Doris who smelled like
20:31peppermint and had bifocals thick enough
20:33to start a campfire, looked over at me
20:36and said, "Honey, you look like you just
20:38found a 20 in an old coat." Something
20:41like that. Second thing I pulled, the
20:43property transaction records for the
20:44three South Shore cabins that sold to
20:46Lakeview Holdings. The sale prices were
20:49all well below the county appraisals
20:51that much I already knew. But the
20:53contracts had a line item I hadn't seen
20:55online. HOA compliance settlement. It
20:58was listed as a credit to the buyer
21:00ranging from $22,000 to $38,000 per
21:04transaction. In plain English, Brenda
21:07manufactured fake fines, then Travis
21:10bought the properties at a discount by
21:11waving those fines as part of the deal.
21:14The sellers thought they were getting
21:15out from under the penalties. What they
21:17were actually getting was robbed. Third
21:20thing I found nearly knocked me off the
21:22clerk's stool. Lakeview Holdings LLC had
21:25filed a rezoning application with the
21:26county planning commission 3 months ago.
21:29The request, rezone the entire South
21:31Shore from residential to mixed-use
21:33commercial. If approved and if Lakeview
21:36Holdings owned all six South Shore lots,
21:38Travis could develop a lakeside resort,
21:41vacation rentals, a dock and dine
21:43restaurant, the whole package. The
21:45estimated development value on the
21:47application, $2.4 million.
21:50Two lots stood in the way, mine and
21:52Norma's. But the thing that made me set
21:54the papers down and just stare at the
21:56wall was the ownership records for
21:58Brenda's own house, the big one on the
22:00hill, the watchtower. It didn't belong
22:02to Brenda. It belonged to Lakeview
22:04Holdings LLC. Travis's company owned his
22:07mother's house. Brenda Holt, the woman
22:10who'd been telling every homeowner on
22:11this lake what they could and couldn't
22:13do with their property, didn't own a
22:15single square foot of anything. The
22:17woman who built her entire identity on
22:19controlling other people's land was a
22:21tenant in her own son's LLC. I gathered
22:24the printouts, thanked Doris, and walked
22:27out into the parking lot. The asphalt
22:29was soft from the afternoon heat, that
22:31tacky tar bubble feeling under your
22:33shoes that only happens in Georgia in
22:35late spring. I sat in my truck for a
22:38while, engine off, windows down,
22:40organizing what I had. Camera footage of
22:43a burglary, a dead HOA, a fraudulent
22:46real estate scheme, an LLC owned by the
22:49son of a board president who didn't even
22:51own her own home. And a rezoning
22:53application worth 2.4 million reasons to
22:56push two old cabins off the map. This
22:58wasn't a neighbor dispute anymore. This
23:00was organized fraud, and I had the
23:03receipts, literally. I spent the next
23:05week making phone calls, not from my
23:07office, not on department time, from my
23:09kitchen table, on my personal phone, on
23:12my days off. Because the most important
23:14thing I could do, and this is something
23:16most people in law enforcement will tell
23:18you, was take myself out of the
23:20investigation entirely. A cop who
23:22investigates his own case is handing the
23:24defense attorney a gift-wrapped
23:26dismissal.
23:27Every piece of evidence gets tainted.
23:29Every decision gets second-guessed. So,
23:32the first call I made was to my deputy,
23:34Wade Collins. Wade had been with the
23:36department 11 years, solid investigator,
23:39knew how to build a case file that
23:41didn't fall apart on the stand. More
23:43importantly, he understood why I was
23:45calling. Wade, I need this handled by
23:48the book. I'm the victim here, not the
23:50investigator. I'm recusing myself from
23:52everything involving Brenda and Travis
23:54Holt. Understood, Chief. What do you
23:56have? Camera footage, county records,
24:00and about six USB drives worth of things
24:02Brenda's going to wish she'd never put
24:04in writing. Wade came to my house that
24:06Saturday. I laid everything on the
24:08kitchen table, the footage, the
24:10printouts, the HOA registration, the LLC
24:14filings, the rezoning application,
24:16Brenda's emails. He spent 4 hours going
24:19through it while I made coffee and
24:21stayed out of his way.
24:22My kitchen smelled like burnt Folgers by
24:24the end of it, but Wade had his case
24:26file started. The second call was to
24:28Norma. She didn't hesitate. "Tell me
24:31where to be and when. I've been waiting
24:336 years for someone to do something
24:35about that woman." Norma agreed to
24:37provide a sworn statement what she saw
24:39the day Travis cleared my cabin. The
24:41license plates she'd written down, the
24:43sale pressure she'd received 2 years
24:45prior, all of it. The third call was to
24:48Glenn Pritchard, the locksmith. Glenn
24:50confirmed in writing that Travis had
24:52requested a lock change on my cabin
24:54without owner authorization, that Glenn
24:56had refused, and that Brenda had
24:58instructed Travis over the phone to just
25:01drill it out. Glenn's statement included
25:03the date, time, and the fact that he'd
25:05been doing locksmith work for 31 years
25:08and had never once been asked to change
25:10a lock for someone who didn't own the
25:11property. That kind of witness is gold
25:14in court long career, no stake in the
25:16outcome, just a man who knows right from
25:18wrong. Then, Wade and I separately,
25:21because I wasn't running this track
25:22down, two of the three families who'd
25:24sold their cabins to Lakeview Holdings.
25:26Dave Morrison, the one Norma had
25:28mentioned with the flagpole violation,
25:31was living in a rental apartment in
25:32Gainesville now. He picked up on the
25:34second ring and talked for 40 minutes.
25:37He confirmed everything, the fabricated
25:39violations, the escalating fines, the
25:42pressure to sell, and the below market
25:44offer from Travis that came exactly 3
25:46weeks after the first violation letter.
25:49Dave said one thing that stuck with me.
25:51"I knew something was wrong, but I
25:54didn't know what to call it. I just knew
25:56I was being squeezed." The second
25:58family, the Burtons, told the same story
26:01from a different address. Same playbook.
26:03Violation letter first, fines
26:06compounding. Then Travis shows up with a
26:08sympathetic smile and a purchase
26:10agreement that just happens to include a
26:12line item for giving all the fines. The
26:14Burtons sold for $91,000.
26:17Their cabin appraised at 155. That's
26:20$64,000
26:21they left on the table because a woman
26:23with a pink letterhead told them they
26:25had no choice. Here's something worth
26:27knowing. In most states, entering
26:29someone's property without permission
26:31with intent to commit any crime inside,
26:34even just removing their belongings,
26:36qualifies as burglary, not trespassing.
26:39Burglary, that's a felony. Travis didn't
26:42just walk into my cabin. He kicked the
26:44door in, boxed up my property, and drove
26:47away. That's burglary in the second
26:49degree." And the email Brenda sent
26:52afterward, the one announcing the
26:54clearance of lot 14 per board resolution
26:562024
26:58to 09, CC'd to her son's LLC email, that
27:03email was a signed confession of
27:05conspiracy. She directed it. She
27:07authorized it. She celebrated it. The
27:10last call I made was to the Dawson
27:11County District Attorney. I presented my
27:14case as a victim, not as a cop. The DA
27:16reviewed the evidence footage, records,
27:19witness statements, the expired HOA
27:21registration, and opened a file. Three
27:24prongs. That was the strategy Wade and
27:26the DA agreed on. Criminal charges,
27:29burglary for Travis, conspiracy for
27:31Brenda, fraudulent lien for both. Civil
27:34action, myself, Norma, and the Morrison
27:37and Burton families file suit against
27:39Lakeview Holdings for real estate fraud
27:41and recovery of the below market sale
27:43differences. Administrative, a formal
27:45objection to the rezoning application
27:48supported by evidence that the applicant
27:49obtained the properties through fraud. I
27:52had one job left, wait. Let Wade and the
27:54DA build the case. Don't touch anything.
27:56Don't confront anyone. Don't give Brenda
27:59or Travis a single reason to claim I
28:01used my badge for personal revenge. That
28:04was the plan.
28:06And then Brenda made it personal. Two
28:09weeks after I turned everything over to
28:10Wade, an envelope showed up in my office
28:13mailbox at the department. No return
28:15address. Inside was a three-page letter
28:18addressed to the Dawson County Board of
28:20Commissioners and the Georgia Peace
28:21Officer Standards and Training Council.
28:24The subject line read, "Complaint
28:26against Chief Kyle Shelton, abuse of
28:28authority and misuse of office resources
28:30for personal property dispute." Travis
28:33Holt had filed an internal affairs
28:34complaint. The letter claimed I had used
28:37my position as chief of police to
28:39intimidate a private citizen Travis
28:41during a lawful HOA enforcement action.
28:44It claimed I had threatened him on my
28:45property. It claimed I had directed
28:47county law enforcement resources to
28:49investigate a civil matter as
28:51retaliation. It was detailed. It was
28:54well-written, and it had clearly been
28:55drafted by an attorney, not by a man who
28:58calls every house a hidden gem. The
29:01Board of Commissioners had no choice but
29:03to forward it to POST, the state
29:04licensing body for law enforcement
29:06officers in Georgia, and POST had no
29:08choice but to open a preliminary review.
29:11I sat in my office reading that letter,
29:12and I'll tell you exactly what it
29:14smelled like. The toner was fresh, the
29:17paper was warm, and my career was
29:19sitting on a razor blade. 14 years,
29:22every commendation, every case, every
29:25midnight call, all of it balanced
29:27against a three-page letter from a man
29:29who broke into my cabin and stole my
29:31dead father's fishing lures. If POST
29:33sustained the complaint, I'd be
29:35suspended pending a full investigation.
29:37If the investigation found merit, even a
29:39whiff of it, I could lose my
29:41certification. No certification, no
29:43badge, no badge, no career. Game over.
29:47The first thing I did was call Wade.
29:49Tell me everything you've done on the
29:50Holt case has been documented as your
29:52investigation, not mine. Chief, I've
29:55kept you out of every report. Your name
29:57appears as the complainant. That's it.
30:00Good. Because POST is going to pull
30:02every file. The second thing I did was
30:04something I should have done the day
30:06Brenda sent that first violation letter.
30:08I called a lawyer. Not a criminal
30:10lawyer, a civil attorney who specialized
30:12in HOA disputes. Her name was Janet
30:15Weeks, and she practiced out of a strip
30:17mall office in that smelled like
30:19lemon Pledge and old carpet. She wasn't
30:21flashy. She was thorough. Janet reviewed
30:24the POST complaint in 20 minutes and
30:26told me to relax slightly. They filed
30:28this to scare you, but the timeline
30:30works in your favor. You recused
30:32yourself before the DA opened the case.
30:35Wade's been lead from day one. There's
30:37no evidence you used department
30:38resources. The complaint is based on a
30:41confrontation that happened on your
30:42private property, off duty, and their
30:44own witness, the locksmith, will testify
30:46that you were calm and cooperative. And
30:49if Post doesn't see it that way, then we
30:51fight it. But Kyle, they made a mistake
30:53filing this because now your attorney,
30:56me, gets to subpoena everything in
30:57discovery, and I mean everything. Every
31:00email Brenda ever sent from that HOA
31:03account. Every transaction Lakeview
31:05Holdings ever closed. Every text Travis
31:08ever sent about your property. She
31:10smiled. It was the smile of a woman who
31:12billed by the hour and had just been
31:15handed a case with a lot of hours in it.
31:17Meanwhile, Brenda wasn't just playing
31:19defense. She went on offense. A letter
31:22arrived in every mailbox on Pine Hollow
31:24Lake hand delivered on Brenda's personal
31:27stationery, pink paper, gold letterhead,
31:30a little crown logo at the top that I
31:32wish I was making up, but I am not. The
31:34letter read, "Kyle Shelton is a squatter
31:37occupying an abandoned structure on lot
31:3914. He has no valid deed and has been
31:41using his government position to
31:43obstruct legitimate HOA operations.
31:45Please sign the attached petition to
31:47have the unauthorized occupant removed.
31:50Squatter." She called me a squatter on
31:53property my father built with his hands.
31:55She called six homeowners personally.
31:58Four signed the petition because they
31:59were afraid of Brenda. These were people
32:01who'd watched three families disappear
32:03in four years and didn't want to be
32:05next. Two refused. One of them was
32:08Norma, who told me later she'd said,
32:10"Brenda, I'll sign that petition the day
32:12you show me a deed with your name on
32:14it." Brenda hung up. But Travis wasn't
32:17done, either.
32:18The next week, a mechanic's lien
32:20appeared on my property at the county
32:21clerk's office, filed by Lakeview
32:24Holdings LLC, claiming they had
32:26performed repairs on my cabin and I owed
32:29them $18,500.
32:31The lien was attached to my title,
32:33meaning I couldn't sell, refinance, or
32:35transfer the property until it was
32:37resolved. Here's something most
32:39homeowners don't realize. Almost anyone
32:42can file a mechanics lien claiming they
32:44did work on your property. It's
32:46shockingly easy. But filing a fraudulent
32:49lien claiming work that was never
32:50performed is a felony in most states
32:52including Georgia. It's called a slander
32:55of title and it carries criminal
32:57penalties on top of the civil liability.
32:59Travis didn't just lie. He filed the lie
33:02with the county and signed his name to
33:04it. I showed the lien to Janet. She
33:06showed her teeth. Add it to the pile.
33:09Two things happened in the same week
33:11that told me Brenda knew she was running
33:12out of time. The first was an email
33:15blast to every homeowner on Pine Hollow
33:17Lake. Subject line, emergency board
33:20meeting mandatory attendance. The date
33:22was set for Thursday evening, 48 hours
33:25from the time the email was sent. The
33:27agenda had one item, vote to revoke
33:30ownership standing for lot 14 and lot 15
33:33due to chronic non-compliance. Lot 14
33:36was me. Lot 15 was Norma. The CC&Rs
33:39required 14 days notice for any board
33:42meeting. Brenda gave 48 hours. Of
33:45course, the CC&Rs didn't matter anymore
33:47because the HOA didn't legally exist,
33:50but Brenda either didn't know that or
33:52didn't care. She was swinging a hammer
33:54that had no head on it and she was
33:56swinging hard. The second thing was that
33:58Travis hired an attorney. A real one
34:00this time, not whoever ghostwrote the
34:02post complaint. This one showed up at
34:04the county clerk's office and filed to
34:07expedite the rezoning application for
34:09the South Shore. In the motion, he
34:11argued that ongoing property disputes
34:13were delaying a development project that
34:15would bring significant economic benefit
34:17to the community.
34:18The filing fee alone was $1,100. Travis
34:22was spending money, which meant Travis
34:24was scared. Wade called me Tuesday
34:26night. "We've got the warrants. DA
34:28signed off this afternoon. Burglary two
34:31for Travis. Conspiracy for Brenda.
34:34Fraudulent lien for both. Plus the DA
34:37flagged the Lakeview Holdings
34:38transactions for the state attorney
34:40general. Turns out, two of the
34:42properties Travis flipped through the
34:43LLC were partially financed through a
34:46bank in South Carolina. That makes it
34:48interstate wire fraud. The AG's office
34:51is coordinating with federal
34:53prosecutors. I sat on that for a minute.
34:55Interstate wire fraud, federal. That was
34:58bigger than anything I'd imagined when I
35:00was standing in my gutted cabin watching
35:02Travis drive away with my father's
35:04belongings. When do you want to serve
35:05them? I asked. DA wants maximum
35:08witnesses, minimum flight risk, both in
35:11the same room. Thursday night, I said.
35:14Emergency board meeting. That's what I
35:15was thinking. Wade arranged for two
35:17deputies to attend the meeting in plain
35:19clothes. They'd sit in the back, look
35:22like homeowners, and wait for the
35:23signal. The warrants were signed,
35:25sealed, and sitting in Wade's glove
35:27compartment. I called Norma. You going
35:30to the meeting Thursday? Wouldn't miss
35:32it for the world. I pressed my good
35:34blouse. Norma, things are going to
35:36happen at that meeting. I need you to
35:38just sit tight and let it play out.
35:40Kyle, I have been sitting tight for 6
35:42years. I'm an expert. Thursday morning,
35:45Janet Weeks called with one more piece
35:47of news. Post had completed its
35:50preliminary review of Travis's complaint
35:52against me, finding no merit. Case
35:55closed. The review noted that I had
35:57recused myself from the investigation
35:59prior to any departmental involvement,
36:02that Deputy Collins had maintained an
36:03independent case file, and that the
36:06complainants own witness, Glenn
36:07Pritchard, had provided that directly
36:10contradicted the allegations. 14 years
36:12of career intact. I drove to the lake
36:15Thursday afternoon, parked at the cabin.
36:18The padlock Travis had put on the door
36:20was still there. I didn't touch it. I
36:23changed into a clean shirt, the kind you
36:25wear when you know people are going to
36:27remember what you looked like. The
36:29evening air coming off the lake smelled
36:31like pine resin and warm mud, that green
36:33silty smell that means summer's coming
36:35whether anyone's ready or not. Norma was
36:38on her porch in her good blouse, white
36:40with little blue flowers. She'd put on
36:43lipstick. You look nice," I said. I've
36:46been waiting 6 years to watch that
36:47woman's face. I wanted to look my best.
36:50We drove to the community center
36:52together. The parking lot was already
36:54half full. Brenda had demanded mandatory
36:57attendance, and for once, people
36:59listened. 22 homeowners filed into a
37:02cinder block room with folding chairs
37:04and fluorescent lights that buzzed like
37:06angry wasps. The room smelled like old
37:09coffee and floor wax. Brenda stood at
37:11the head table, papers spread in front
37:13of her. Travis sat to her right wearing
37:16a blazer that was working harder than he
37:18was. Next to Travis sat a man in a gray
37:20suit, the attorney Brenda had hired to
37:22make the whole thing look legitimate. In
37:25the back row, two men in khakis and polo
37:27shirts took their seats. Nobody paid
37:29them any attention. Brenda smiled at the
37:31room the way a person smiles when they
37:33think they've already won. Brenda tapped
37:35her pen on the table twice, and the room
37:38went quiet. That fluorescent buzz was
37:40the only sound left, that and the air
37:42conditioner unit in the corner that
37:44rattled like a box of loose screws every
37:4630 seconds. "Thank you all for coming on
37:48short notice. We have one agenda item
37:50tonight. The board will vote to revoke
37:52ownership standing for lot 14 and lot 15
37:55due to chronic non-compliance with HOA
37:57regulations." She said it the way a
38:00school principal reads a suspension
38:01letter. Practiced. Final. Travis opened
38:05a binder 2 in thick, tabs color-coded,
38:07and started distributing photocopies.
38:10Violation reports. Photos of my cabin.
38:13Photos of Norma's porch railing. Dates,
38:15amounts, resolution numbers. Every page
38:18stamped with the Pine Hollow Lake HOA
38:20seal, a seal Brenda had apparently had
38:22custom made because HOAs don't come with
38:25seals. The ink was purple. Of course it
38:27was purple. The attorney in the gray
38:29suit sat with his hands folded, nodding
38:32like a metronome.
38:33He hadn't said a word yet. He didn't
38:35need to. His presence was the message.
38:38This is legitimate. This is legal. Don't
38:41fight it. Brenda looked around the room.
38:44"If there are no objections, I'll call
38:46the vote. I stood up. Before we vote,
38:49I'd like to read one document into the
38:51record. Brenda's pen stopped moving.
38:54This isn't an open forum, Mr. Shelton.
38:56The agenda. One document. 30 seconds. 22
39:01pairs of eyes turned toward me. Norma,
39:04in her white blouse with the blue
39:05flowers, sat perfectly still in the
39:08second row. The two deputies in the back
39:11row didn't move. I held up a single
39:13sheet of paper. County Clerk's office
39:15header, official seal, dated. This is a
39:18certification from the Dawson County
39:20Clerk confirming that the Pine Hollow
39:22Lake Community Association's
39:24registration with the state of Georgia
39:26expired 18 months ago. The association
39:29failed to renew its filing. Under
39:31Georgia code, an unregistered HOA has no
39:34legal authority to levy fines, issue
39:36resolutions, restrict access, or conduct
39:38binding votes. I let that sit for a
39:40second. The air conditioner rattled.
39:43Every fine issued in the last 18 months
39:45is void. Every resolution is void,
39:48including resolution 2024-09,
39:51the one used to authorize the removal of
39:53my personal property from my cabin. The
39:56room made the sound a room makes when 22
39:58people inhale at the same time exhales,
40:01a kind of soft vacuum. The attorney in
40:04the gray suit stood up. He didn't look
40:07at Brenda. He looked at the paper in my
40:09hand. Then, he picked up his briefcase.
40:12I wasn't informed of this. I'm
40:14withdrawing from this proceeding. He
40:16walked out, got three steps past the
40:19door, stopped, came back, grabbed his
40:21reading glasses off the table, and left
40:24again. Under different circumstances, it
40:26would have been funny. A few people
40:28almost laughed. Nobody did. Brenda's
40:31face went from white to red in the time
40:33it took the door to swing shut. She
40:35gripped the edge of the table with both
40:36hands. That doesn't That changes
40:38nothing. The board still has authority
40:40over this community. We've been
40:42operating. There is no board, Mrs. Holt.
40:45There hasn't been one for 18 months.
40:47You've been issuing fines and
40:48resolutions from an organization that
40:50doesn't legally exist. You can't. This
40:53is my And while we're reading things
40:55into the record, I said, "Your house at
40:57114 Hillcrest Drive is owned by Lakeview
41:00Holdings LLC, your son's company. You
41:03don't own property on this lake. You
41:05never did." That was the sound I'll
41:07remember. Not a gasp, more like the
41:09creak of a chair when someone leans back
41:11hard. 22 people recalculating everything
41:14they'd been told for 6 years. Norma's
41:17voice came from the second row, quiet
41:19and clear. "So, who's the squatter now?"
41:22The back door of the community center
41:23opened. Deputy Wade Collins walked in,
41:26badge on his belt, followed by the two
41:28plainclothes deputies who'd been sitting
41:29in the back row, now standing, now very
41:32clearly not homeowners. "Travis Holt,"
41:35Wade said. "Please stand up. You're
41:37under arrest for burglary in the second
41:39degree." Travis didn't stand. He looked
41:42at his mother. "Mom?" "Brenda Holt,
41:45you're under arrest for conspiracy to
41:47commit burglary and filing a fraudulent
41:49lien." Brenda's hands were still on the
41:51table. Her fingers had gone white. "This
41:54is insane. Do you have any idea who I
41:56am?" Wade was calm. Wade was always
41:59calm. "Yes, ma'am. And you should know
42:02that the complaint in this case was
42:04filed by the man standing right there."
42:06Every head in the room turned to me. A
42:08woman in the third row, I didn't know
42:10her name, said, "Wait. Who are you?"
42:13"I'm the chief of police of Dawson
42:15County. I'm also just a man trying to
42:17keep the cabin his father built." The
42:19room erupted. Not applause, not exactly.
42:23It was that sound of 22 people talking
42:25at once, chairs scraping, someone
42:27saying, "I knew it," even though they
42:29definitely did not know it. One man in
42:31the back pulled out his phone and
42:33started recording. Norma sat in her
42:35folding chair with her hands in her lap
42:37and tears on her face and a smile that
42:39could have lit the whole lake. Wade
42:41cuffed Travis first. Travis went quiet.
42:44The binder was still open on the table,
42:46his color-coded tabs pointing at
42:47nothing. Brenda stood when Wade came
42:49around the table, but she didn't extend
42:52her wrists. She turned to me. You set
42:54this up. This whole thing. You planned
42:57this. No, ma'am. You planned this
42:59meeting. I just brought the paperwork.
43:02Wade escorted them out through the side
43:03door.
43:04The parking lot gravel crunched under
43:06four sets of shoes. The fluorescent
43:08lights buzzed on. Someone turned off the
43:11air conditioner and the rattle stopped
43:12and the room was quieter than it had
43:14been in 6 years. Here's what happened
43:16after the handcuffs clicked. Travis took
43:19a plea deal before the federal
43:20investigation made things worse.
43:22Burglary reduced on the plea. 18 months
43:25probation, 240 hours of community
43:28service, and $8,200
43:31in restitution for my door, my property,
43:34and locks he had no business touching.
43:36He surrendered his real estate license.
43:38Lakeview Holdings was dissolved 60 days
43:40later. Brenda fought for 3 months,
43:43changed attorneys twice, showed up to
43:45arraignment in a white pantsuit like she
43:47was running for office. But her own
43:49email, the one announcing my cabin had
43:51been cleared per board resolution
43:532024-09,
43:55CC'd to Travis's LLC, was read aloud in
43:58court. Her keyboard, her send button,
44:01her confession. No contest, conspiracy,
44:04and fraudulent lien. 2 years probation,
44:0815,000 in fines, and a permanent ban
44:10from any HOA board in the county.
44:13The judge looked over his glasses and
44:15said, "Mrs. Holt, I suggest you redirect
44:18your organizational talents somewhere
44:20they won't result in felony charges."
44:22The federal wire fraud investigation,
44:25still open. Two of Travis's property
44:27flips were financed through a South
44:29Carolina bank money across state lines
44:31in furtherance of fraud. I can't say
44:33more. But Brenda stopped wearing the
44:35white pantsuit. The civil suit settled.
44:38Dave Morrison, the Burtons, and a third
44:41family claimed $185,000
44:43in losses. Dave moved out of his rental
44:46and back to the lake. The rezoning
44:48application was denied in one sentence.
44:51"Applications built on fraudulently
44:52obtained properties will not be
44:54considered by this body. Norma Tate was
44:56elected HOA president unanimous. Her
44:59first act, every fine requires two
45:02independent witnesses and a 30-day
45:04appeal. Every meeting needs 14 days
45:06notice. Rules that only exist because
45:09somebody proved what happens without
45:11them. I fixed my cabin, replaced the
45:13door frame, sanded the porch, repainted
45:16the dock in the same white pine color my
45:18father used. The hardware store didn't
45:20carry it anymore. Custom mixed it for
45:22$11 extra. Worth every penny. The wooden
45:26box, the one my father made me the
45:27summer I turned 10, the one Travis
45:30cracked against the side of his truck,
45:32Norma found it at the county dump, split
45:34down one seam. I glued it, sanded it,
45:37and mounted it on the wall in a glass
45:39frame. Under it, built by Earl Shelton,
45:421986.
45:44The lures inside still smelled like his
45:46garage. Last June, I started the first
45:49Earl Shelton Memorial Fishing Day. Free
45:51for every kid in the county. 36 kids on
45:54the dock learning to tie lures. Norma
45:57made lemonade. Glenn brought his
45:59grandkids. The Morrison and Burton
46:01families used part of the settlement to
46:02start a scholarship fund for students
46:04studying resource management. Small.
46:07Growing. The kind of thing that happens
46:10when people aren't afraid of the person
46:11at the top of the hill. That night,
46:13after the kids left, I sat in my
46:15father's chair with a rod in my hand.
46:18The dock creaked. The lake went dark.
46:20The coffee was terrible. Everything was
46:23exactly the way it was supposed to be.
46:25Now, Norma told me something after the
46:27meeting. She said, "Kyle, this isn't the
46:30first lake in this county where somebody
46:32tried this." She wouldn't say more, just
46:35smiled and said, "Ask around." I did.
46:39That story involves a bulldozer and a
46:41very angry fire marshal, but that's for
46:43next time. If you've dealt with an HOA
46:45president who acts like they own your
46:47house, your street, and your life, I
46:49want to hear it. Drop your story in the
46:51comments. I read everyone. And if you're
46:54new here, hit subscribe because the next
46:56story doesn't get quieter, it gets
46:59louder.

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