Goodbye, Luther Bates

 

photo of man

Remember Luther Bates?  Remember the anxiety we shared on this website about our Pod?

If the answer is “yes,” he finally settled up Monday, May 18.  Finally.

If not, Luther Bates was Alice McCormick’s former neighbor in Doylestown, Pa. whom we entrusted to pack our possessions and ship them out to Oregon in a rental Pod.  Because of Alice’s longtime “friendship” with Bates, I acceded to his demand for upfront cash payment of $4,400 with the promise our furniture, keepsakes and valuables would arrive shortly after we took possession of our rented apartment in Hillsboro in late September.

Landing in Hillsboro

Three weeks after our arrival, our apartment was barren, and he was not returning our phone calls.  I wrote about it on this blog, and you can read it here.

We then learned from Bucks County’s (Pennsylvania) Prothonotary Office that Bates had a criminal record for bilking others, including an elderly widow and Vietnam Veterans of America.  Now we were desperate.  Two more weeks of continued silence followed, and we filed a complaint with Bucks County’s Office of Consumer Protection, speaking with investigator Lynn Hanes.

Bates may have had no criminal intent, but he did commingle our upfront money to take care of his own bills.  Only after Hanes’ office served our complaint – and Bates’ own probation officer added an admonition in person – did Bates finally make a substantial down payment with Pods.  Here’s the post on that development.

Where’s Our Stuff?

Nevertheless, Pods still would not ship our stuff unless a balance due of over $1,500 was paid.  Since the account was established in Bates’ name, he had the power to divert the shipment back to his home, and maybe pocket the unused funds.  Anxiety ridden, I waited until two days before the scheduled shipping date, then took a leap of faith.  Three more posts describe what happened.  Here’s one:  And another.   And the final one.

handwritten note and money order
Bates’ final money order and the note he enclosed.

Settlement at Last

Our friends and family followed the posts closely and offered words of comfort.  But how to recover the extra money we shelled out to get our stuff?  Bucks County’s Hanes followed through, even though Bates took his sweet time – eight months – to settle up grudgingly.

I paid a dear price in sleeplessness and peace of mind, and never want to go through anything like that again.  But we must acknowledge the professional guidance given us by Lynn Hanes and Bucks County’s Office of Consumer Protection.  And we must acknowledge how it settled this unpleasant affair.

Thanks, Lynn.  We never would have recovered without you – and glory be, in full.

8 thoughts on “Goodbye, Luther Bates”

  1. Glad to see this come to a close. There are a number of these situations that do not come out as well as yours. Calling his probation officer was a good idea (that may have been my idea) but you did the leg work. I am happy for you.

    1. Hi Bryan, Ed Button here Lu Bates is interested in purchasing a lot from My 86 year Old Mother, I read your post on masonloika If you would like to offer me any info on this guy it would be greatly appreciated. My mom is too trusting at times and any other info to provide would help my argument thank you in advance.
      [email protected]

  2. Luther Bates, was my first husband, 1970. Unfortunately, he made 9 years of my life so unbearable that my book would be a best seller. He still owes his only blood daughter $70,000.00 that he promised to pay half her college education, 1994. Luther signed my name on a second mortgage, which I was unaware of until I sold our home (mine and my 2 yrs old daughters, 1978). He still owes my parents $25,000.00 from a scam. 1975, luther Bates was arrested for robbing $58,000.00 from Sylvan Pools which he pleaded no contest. The court assigned him to probation and a fine of $5,000.00 plus court costs, also paying his attorney $15,000.00. At this time we were married close to 9 yrs and having our 2 yrs old daughter I could no longer believe anything he told me and felt it was in the best interest of my daughter too finally divorce him. There were more than 50 other scams I later found out too many for me to list here. Luther Bates is a pathological liar and his sickness has destroyed so many lives.
    Because I lived with this man doing one scam after another I feel so much empathy for all the hundreds of people that he took unlawful advantage. Our court systems have not taught him a lesson and should throw him in prison for LIFE!!

  3. As they say what goes around comes back around. I, unfortunately was married to luther for 9 years and had his only child, my daughter. He ripped me off, my parents, many other poor people and to top it off, he made promises, bad checks, you name it to his only daughter who as of today is a successful educated marine biologist that has nothing to do with her father for the last 30 years. But the best thing finally happened was to know that luther Bates is serving 4 years in prison at camp hill. There is a God! My heart goes out to all that were scammed by this inhuman man but you and I were survivors. It has scarred my daughter for life.

  4. What a useless individual, to betray his own daughter and family members. Toss away the key.

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