A couple charges that a local bank has conspired to take their land and that homophobia is at the heart of the bank’s case

DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com

Mark Mattlage said his land in Crawford has been in his family since 1883. But now the bank has foreclosed on the property, and Mattlage charges homophobia was involved.

Mattlage said his grandfather purchased the ranch through the Texas Land Grant program, and, Mattlage explained, that through that program, his grandfather could only close on the property after the fourth year of farming it. So the family’s actual ownership of the land maybe only dates back to 1887.

In 1941, ownership of the farm passed to his parents. And in 2005, Mattlage and his husband, Rob Snowden, who have been together for 42 years, began the process of purchasing the land from his parents.

“Dad was in failing health,” Mattlage said, adding that his father passed away before they could complete the transaction. But his mother was still alive, although no longer living on the property.

Mattlage said his brother assumed he was going to just inherit the property, so he sued to stop the purchase. Mattlage prevailed in that lawsuit, but the case took four years and went as high as the state Supreme Court, he said.

The property is quite valuable because the farmland is watered by a spring-fed creek that Mattlage said he’s never seen dry. Over the last 20 years, it’s become even more valuable because of its location — about four properties away from the ranch owned by former President George W. Bush.

Mattlage’s mortgage was held by a local bank, TFNB/Your Bank for Life. He said his family’s relationship with that bank or its predecessors goes back 130 years.

“My grandfather’s money went into building that bank,” he said. “I trusted them.”

But, he claims, the bank was after the property because of its value. Mattlage said the bank’s current president’s grandfather was after Mattlage’s grandfather to sell him the property a century ago. But his grandfather wouldn’t sell.

Now the bank had a way to get the property — through foreclosure — and Mattlage believes bank officers’ homophobia is adding impetus to that effort.

After securing the property more than a decade ago, Mattlage said he got the idea to turn part of the land into a men’s resort. He borrowed money from TFNB to build a 3,800-square-foot pool house, a replica of the original house with five apartments to be rented out to weekend and holiday customers, a hostel and a rec center. He had plans to add a 40-person restaurant and bar and 12 transient and six permanent RV pads, as well.

The final loan Mattlage and Snowden needed from the bank was $32,000 to complete the septic system that, he said, was already 95 percent finished and was necessary to complete the RV sites and the restaurant and bar.

“The bank denied us the last $32,000, which would have generated about $14,000 income per month,” Mattlage said. In other words, that final piece of the loan would have been repaid quickly.

“The bank CEO knew the restaurant would have put us over the top,” Mattlage said. “But he wanted the property himself.”

Mattlage said he was told this by people who work at the bank, but who are not willing to testify because they are afraid of being fired.

The bank CEO even suggested to Mattlage that he declare bankruptcy. That would delay the bank getting its hands on the property, but ensure they get it in the long run. The bank CEO told him, “That’ll give you time, but the judge will rule in our favor and we will get the farm.”

Mattlage and Snowden filed suit after the bank tried to foreclose. The state court denied a jury trial and ruled in the bank’s favor.

Every brief the bank filed included wording referring to the property as the “homosexual resort” or the “homosexual nudist camp,” which it never was, Mattlage said.

The bank is a federally-chartered national bank, and Mattlage filed bankruptcy, which falls within federal jurisdiction, so Mattlage said the case belongs in federal court, and he has a suit pending.

At this point, Mattlage is awaiting two rulings. From the federal court, he’s waiting to hear if the court will put the case under federal jurisdiction. From a state court in Waco, he’s waiting to hear if the judge will order a jury trial.

The property is worth between $1-3 million more than what the couple owes on the mortgage and in attorney’s fees. And Mattlage said, he’s been advised that the bank keeps any profit from the sale of property after a foreclosure above and beyond the actual debt.

Mattlage said the man who is president and CEO of the bank has been removed from his position but remains chairman. He claims the bank is under investigation by the FBI for falsification of records and that there’s false information in his bank records and possibly forged documents.

On April 4, the bank did complete its repossession of the property, which Mattlage claims is also illegal because of the pending fraud lawsuit as well as the bankruptcy. The couple is currently living in a cottage on an adjoining, but separate, tract of land.

On Monday, June 6, several friends — including Nestor Estrada and Joe Pacetti — are holding a fundraiser to help defray legal costs. They’re having a dinner at Cathedral of Hope’s Interfaith Peace Chapel from 6-8 p.m. Tickets are available for $50 on Eventbrite. For information, visit Facebook.com/events/3154181564793488.