Victims Wonder What Happened to Millions of Dollars Stolen by Utah Title Agent

FARMINGTON, Utah. He was a title agent who did not forward his clients’ money in real estate transactions and forged the signatures of the people he did business with.

Then he was a construction contractor who fails to complete promised work.

He is now a convicted fraudster and prisoner. But where is all the money that Ryan Goodrich stole?

That was the question at Goodrich’s sentencing hearing earlier this month. State Judge Ronald Russell sentenced Goodrich to 30 years in prison. How long he will serve his sentence will be decided by the state parole board.

“There is no doubt that prison is warranted in this case,” Russell told Goodrich.

“The court finds it particularly egregious that you abused your position as a fiduciary,” the judge added.

FOX 13 first reported Goodrich in early 2023. The State of Utah suspended his title agent license. Goodrich owned and operated Synergy Title Insurance Agency in Clearfield.

Goodrich after all pleaded guilty to fraud and a charge of unlawful conduct, both felonies. He opened a contracting business after losing his title agent’s license and pleaded guilty to crimes committed while working in the business, including theft charges.

“The defendant grossly abused his position of trust,” Assistant Utah Attorney General Wayne D. Jones told the judge in Farmington.

Jones described how Goodrich, as a title agent, withheld clients’ money in real estate transactions and forced families to pay off mortgages on properties they no longer owned.

Goodrich also bought houses or offered to do so. He told Shelley and Reed McDermott he would buy their home in Morgan, FOX 13 reported last year.

Goodrich never paid them any money, but – in his guilty plea – admitted to forging the McDermotts’ signatures and filing false documents with the county recorder saying the couple had sold their home. He then took out a loan against the house.

“Once we finally got the title back,” Shelley McDermott told FOX 13 earlier this month, “we had a buyer for the house and we had to drop the price ridiculously because by now interest rates were going up and It’s hot.” the raging market was falling.”

The couple believes prison was the right sentence.

“There’s no way he’s going to get back these millions of dollars that he stole,” Shelley McDermott said.

“Sometimes the wheels of justice turn slowly,” Reed McDermott said, “but I think justice has been served.”

Some victims suffered more.

Joanna Arbogast and her family sold their home to Goodrich in December 2022 when her husband took a job in Tennessee. She went on the court video link to tell the judge how when the Arbogasts went to file their taxes, they discovered that Goodrich had not paid his creditor.

“So we were left with a house that didn’t belong to us, that we owed money on,” Arbogast explained, “and also with bad credit.”

“We have three young daughters and a son who are going to college,” she added, “and because of what happened, we don’t have the savings to send our son to college.”

After hounding Goodrich for money, Arbogast opened a cleaning business to help her family pay the bills.

“And Mr. Goodrich went online and left false reviews,” Arbogast said, “negative reviews.”

Russell also ordered Goodrich to pay $6.5 million in damages. Neither the judge nor the victims seemed to expect Goodrich to pay that amount.

Jones said investigators found that Goodrich had spent several hundred thousand dollars on SUVs and other entertainment, but most of the money was still missing.

“Of the approximately $115 million that passed through defendant’s trust account over the relevant two years,” Jones said in court, “nearly 20% of the funds withdrawn were either cash or wire transfers and checks that could not be traced due to the lack of additional documents.” records.”

Goodrich spent about six months in prison. Goodrich’s attorney asked Russell to sentence his client to an additional six months followed by probation. Goodrich planned to work in the family construction business to earn money to pay for damages.

“I would like to publicly apologize to all the victims,” Goodrich said at the beginning of his address to the judge.

“In November 2020,” Goodrich explained, “I received an offer to purchase a pop-up home. Everything went well with the coup. So I bought more and more.

“I was buying multiple houses at the same time at the end of 2022.”

“I didn’t have the funds to pay,” Goodrich continued, “so I started using the title company’s money to make payments and disbursements.”

“Please understand that the only way to get this money back as quickly as possible is to avoid jail and put me on probation so I can save on restitution.”

FOX 13 found about a dozen lawsuits related to Goodrich’s title business. Perhaps lawyers in one of these cases will find the missing money.

Otherwise, the missing money will likely come up one day at Goodrich’s parole hearing.