Kemah Circus
With the nightmare mayors in Texas City and La Marque, it has been way too quiet in Kemah. But that has changed with Kemah Mayor Robin Collins now accused of probate fraud. As the year begins, we return to the Kemah Circus.
Kemah Circus
“Wayne Dolcefino, how you doing?” Wayne Dolcefino said.
“I’m good. I will never talk to you,” Robin Collins said.
It’s hard to believe it’s been eighteen months since we’ve done a story on Kemah city government.
“Wonder if the mayor misses us because she is a big fan,” Dolcefino told the camera.
“Find the camera disgusting,” Collins said.
Well, maybe not.
“I bet if you talk to anybody that a Dolcefino video was aimed at, they would say the same thing,” Collins said.
Kemah is a tourist town on Galveston Bay.
The boardwalk, the big draw.
It’s a carnival atmosphere, they even have a Ferris wheel.
But down the street, at Kemah City Hall, it’s more like a clown show.
It’s still a political circus, a Kemah circus, and now our pal the mayor is being accused of fraud.
“In an effort for clarity, we have a question regarding the article that was released on The Texan,” Peyton Heussner said.
“I need to remind you of something. This has to do with city business,” Collins said.
“Hey mayor, the headlines in The Texan are the business of every Kemah taxpayer because you are being accused of fraud, and this Kemah city councilman is accused of helping you try to pull it off,” Dolcefino told the camera.
That’s why we are back at the bay, fishing for the truth.
The mayor had ducked in a back door before the first meeting after the article went online.
We had shared it on our page, and folks demanded answers.
That’s why we wanted to talk to the mayor.
But there was no afterwards.
The mayor went out the side door, and despite the cold rain that night, even left her car at City Hall just to avoid us.
She’s done that before.
Here’s what’s going on: the mayor’s father, Harold Peterson, was a wealthy man. He owned lots of properties, including this house, 1409 Leeward Circle.
When he died in 2014, the house was left to his wife, Robin Collins’ mom.
Collins has power of attorney over her.
In February, Collins attempted to sell the property. There was only one problem.
In order to close the deal, she had to notify her stepfather’s biological daughters.
“And I guess they were trying to close it. And then, you know, my dad’s name came up in title,” Natalie Peterson said.
Months go by, and Robin asks Natalie to dinner.
“She handed me some papers to fill out for an heirship affidavit,” Natalie Peterson said.
A sworn legal document used to identify heirs and transfer real estate.
“And I think what she really wanted was for us to just sign off and give them all the proceeds,” Natalie Peterson said.
Documents you sign, particularly when someone dies without a will.
But Natalie doesn’t sign it. Instead, Robin and the other biological heirs come to an agreement.
“We asked for half the proceeds plus half of the rental income that they made on the house,” Natalie Peterson said.
Robin agreed. The closing on the house was set for September 30th last year.
“Robin, 15 minutes before closing, called the title company and said she wasn’t coming,” Natalie Peterson said.
“And then she just went radio silent. Nobody’s heard anything. The buyers haven’t heard a word from her,” Natalie Peterson said.
Natalie gets a call from a reporter, Holly Hansen.
“And informed me that Robin was trying to probate some handwritten will,” Natalie Peterson said.
Something Natalie and the other heirs had never seen or heard of since Peterson’s death in 2014.
“If she had a will, she would have never asked me to fill out an heirship affidavit. So that’s what she’s trying to do behind our back, is get this will through,” Natalie Peterson said.
In Robin Collins’ original application, she lists three witnesses to verify Peterson’s handwriting.
One of them being a familiar face, Isaac Saldana.
“Ugh. I’m not involved in that, huh. I don’t really know a lot about her situation, and I don’t want to know a lot about her situation,” Isaac Saldana said.
Saldana is a Kemah city council member. His attorney is Shawn Williamson, who is also a probate attorney.
“His name was one of the ones that they had put as a potential witness for the handwriting, or for the signature, in the original application,” Shawn Williamson said.
How would Isaac know if that’s Harold’s handwriting?
“I’m not a signature specialist. You know what I mean?” Saldana said.
“But that’s not what we asked,” Dolcefino told the camera.
“Which leads me back to this question again. You must really think that this will is legitimate,” Heussner said.
“Well again, I’m not an expert on handwriting, so I certainly didn’t attest to the fact I’m an expert in handwriting,” Saldana said.
According to Shawn Williamson, Isaac and Harold go way back.
“He was friends with Mr. Peterson. They weren’t drinking buddies, but he did a lot of business with them and stuff like that,” Shawn Williamson said.
Isaac is the owner of I-S-C Construction. He built a house for Harold and Margie, 1409 Leeward Circle.
One could argue that Isaac has personal interest in the outcome of the probate proceedings.
“You’re not worried that the will could be fake just in general, you know?” Heussner said.
“No, no, I’m not worried about my participation in it,” Saldana said.
But obviously he was worried. His attorney advised him to get out.
“They just amended their petition and took him out as a witness,” Shawn Williamson said.
Saying it’s not what Isaac signed up for.
“It’s more of a circus issue. I want him involved in as little circuses as he can be involved in,” Shawn Williamson said.
Another witness listed is this woman, Toni Clawson Randall.
A probate objection filed by Herrera suggests Randall has financial interest in the outcome of the probate proceedings, stating Randall holds mortgages on three of Robin’s disputed properties.
“Toni Clawson is the one that financed it. She’s on a deed of trust that financed it,” Natalie Peterson said.
The last witness, Jeff Graham.
“I’ve never heard of that person. And if it’s somebody that knows my dad well enough to be able to verify his handwriting, I would know him,” Natalie Peterson said.
Collins owes Kemah taxpayers a real explanation of what’s going on here, and she also needs to fix the obvious conflicts of interest between her and the city’s law firm, Murray and Lobb.
“I want to address a recent billing error,” Collins said.
At the meeting where she ducked out and hid from us, she had to admit that Kemah taxpayers had paid an invoice for her personal legal issues.
“The city attorney’s office inadvertently billed the city for a personal matter of mine, and I want to be very clear and take full responsibility for this error. It has been corrected, and the city has been fully reimbursed,” Collins said.
Mayors should not comingle city business with their own, because taxpayers deserve to know lawyers aren’t giving advice that protects the mayor from scrutiny.
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