Wait Is Necessary in Land Dispute

Victims just keep stacking up in the tangled web spun by developer Marshall Redman. Now facing criminal charges, Redman is the millionaire landowner who allegedly ripped off hundreds of unsophisticated Latinos by selling them undeveloped and largely uninhabitable desert property in the Antelope Valley. But after authorities seized the assets of Redman’s $20-million empire, a new class of victims emerged: those who sold Redman the land in the first place.

Many depended on the monthly payments to supplement retirement income. Now the checks have stopped as receivers sort through the mess and try to right the situation. More than 100 creditors--many of them small-time individual investors--are crying foul. They complain of tight household budgets without the money they counted on from Redman. No vacations. No new clothes.

For the most part, though, their hardships--however real--pale when compared to the abject conditions in which many of those who bought Redman’s land lived. No heat. No running water. These are the primary--and most vulnerable--victims and they deserve the top priority receivers have assigned them. Some will receive refunds. Some will get new lots. Once their lives have been put back together, receivers will try to restore the flow of payments to Redman’s creditors--a process that may take several years.

No one enjoys this financial triage. Not the buyers of junk land. Not the receivers charged with ranking victims. And certainly not the creditors who did nothing except sell their land. But the process is a necessary part of the investigations into Redman’s dealings. Until they are resolved, sadly, everyone must wait.