Man Accused of Gutting Foreclosed Empire Township Home

An Afton man has been charged with illegally removing $70,000 worth of appliances, fixtures, cabinets and other items from his foreclosed home in Empire Township last year.

William Scott Zarbok, 48, faces three felony charges in Dakota County, including defeating security on realty, which means removing property subject to a mortgage, lien or contract for deed, and which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

He also faces two counts of defeating security on personality, which means removing personal property in which someone else had a security interest, and refusing to disclose the location of that property. The maximum penalty on each of those charges is three years in prison and a $6,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, an employee of Premier Bank called the Dakota County sheriff’s office in late April 2010 and reported that when he arrived to take possession of the foreclosed home – on which Zarbok held the foreclosed mortgage – he found all the door locked except for a garage door.

Inside the home, he discovered that the fireplace, kitchen cabinetry, appliances, bathroom vanities, mirrors, toilets, towel racks, outlet covers and thermostat had been removed. The utility room was missing the water heater, the in-floor heating unit, an air exchanger and several breakers from the breaker box, the complaint says.

There was a hole in the wall from the garage that had been connected to the house ductwork, used for heating with a wood burner, which was also missing, according to the complaint.

The outside air-conditioning unit was gone, along with the garage door openers and wiring. Copper piping that had been used to feed water to the underground irrigation system had also been cut.

Police took photos of the empty home and spoke to neighbors, some of whom remembered seeing Zarbok at the house late one night loading items into a large utility trailer. A neighbor who had “casual contact” with Zarbok was inside the home in late March 2010 and noticed that everything was gone, he told police.

In June 2010, police spoke to a man who had worked for Zarbok’s construction company for about 12 years. The employee told police that he had been in the home helping move items belonging to his brother, who had rented the basement, and he saw Zarbok removing the kitchen cabinets.

The employee told police that he saw Zarbok take the fireplace, the vanity from the upstairs bathroom and the wood-burning stove from the garage, and he said he saw appliances that had been removed from the home in Zarbok’s trailer.

Last December, police spoke to Zarbok, who admitted owning the home, but initially denied taking anything permanently attached to the residence. When he was asked specifically about the bathroom vanities, he told police he couldn’t recall anything about them.

He admitted taking the wood burner from the garage, along with the stove and refrigerator, according to the complaint. He said he recalled seeming some of the items from his home “in other places,” but didn’t provide police with locations or names of people who had the items.

Zarbok is scheduled to make a first appearance on the charges Nov. 7 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.