CAMDEN, Maine — Camden has placed a lien for unpaid property taxes on the downtown office building owned by disgraced former charity president Russell “Rusty” Brace.
The lien for $12,395 was placed Aug. 28 on the Brace Management Group office building at 21 Elm St. because the first half of annual property taxes levied in September 2014 have not yet been paid.
If the delinquent taxes addressed by the lien are not paid off within 18 months, the property would become town-owned.
The four-story, 17,303-square-foot commercial building is assessed by the town at nearly $1.7 million. The circa 1830 building is up for sale for $2.3 million.
This lien follows one placed on Brace’s primary home in Rockport on Aug. 7 for $10,396 in unpaid property taxes.
The Rockport property is assessed by the town at $774,800. The sale price on that property has been dropped from $895,000 to $795,000 as of last month.
Brace, 81, faces up to 30 years in prison after he pleaded guilty May 29 to one count of mail fraud affecting a financial institution and two counts of tax fraud and making false statements in connection with the theft of more than $4.8 million in donations earmarked for United Mid-Coast Charities. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 9 in U.S. District Court in Portland.
Liens also were placed on Brace’s properties as part of the charity’s effort to recoup some of the money embezzled by the organization’s longtime president. The charity and Brace reached an agreement earlier this year in which Brace will repay the organization. Attorney Jay McCloskey, who represents the charity, said last month he expects the properties will be sold and that all the liens will be paid off when that happens.