CAMDEN, Maine — An area charity hopes to collect more reimbursement money this year from its former president, who stole more than $4.6 million.
Since 82-year-old Russell Brace of Rockport began serving a four-year federal prison term in November, he has turned over his property in Rangeley to United Mid-Coast Charities. The charity has dropped the price of that house and land in an effort to sell it faster.
The price on Brace’s primary Rockport home also has been dropped.
Brace was sentenced in October to 48 months in prison for one count of mail fraud affecting a financial institution and two counts of tax fraud and making false statements. He began serving the sentence the following month at the federal prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.
On Dec. 21, Brace turned over the deed to his one-acre property on Alpine Way in Rangeley. The property included a 2,100-square-foot house, built in 1972, with five bedrooms, two full bathrooms and two half-baths.
The house has a wrap-around deck with a view of Rangeley Lake and mountains. There is an adjacent two-car garage. The property has deeded access to the lake.
The sale price is currently $229,000. The property was initially listed at $399,800 in November 2014. The price was dropped to $299,000 a few days before the charity received the deed. The price then was dropped to its current offering last month.
United Mid-Coast President Stephen Crane said Tuesday that the market in the Rangeley area is a tough one, with 300 to 400 properties for sale in that region.
“We hope it will be done this summer,” Crane said about selling the property.
The price of Brace’s primary home in Rockport also has been dropped for a quicker sale. The charity has a lien on that property and will receive the proceeds when the sale occurs.
The asking price was originally $895,000, but that has been lowered three times since to the current price of $699,000.
The Rockport home has nearly 3,700 square feet with five bedrooms, two full bathrooms and one half bath. The house is located on a one-acre lot.
The charity recovered slightly more than $1 million last year through the seizing of Brace’s bank accounts, the sale of his downtown Camden commercial building and the sale of personal properties including a boat and car.
The charity also received $1,230,730 as part of a settlement with The First Bank, which was paid by the bank’s insurer, Traveler’s Insurance. Brace was depositing checks earmarked for the charity in an account he opened at The First Bank, which was a tenant of Brace’s Camden building.
The attorneys for both Brace and the charity have previously said they expect that UMCC would recoup about 65 percent of the money stolen from the organization.
The charity and Brace had reached an agreement in April 2015 in a civil lawsuit in which Brace agreed to repay the organization the more than $4.6 million in donations earmarked for the charity that he stole during his lengthy tenure as president of the board.
Brace embezzled the money from the organization from 2001 through August 2014 while he served as the board’s volunteer president. Liens were placed on his properties.
Brace admitted in September 2014 — a month after he retired from his volunteer post — to taking numerous, and sometimes large, checks earmarked for United Mid-Coast Charities and depositing them in his Brace Management Account at the First, NA bank.
Brace served as board president of United Mid-Coast Charities from 1997 until August 2014, when he stepped down. Crane discovered the embezzlement the following month when he took over as president of the board after talking to a donor whose large contributions could not be found among the charity’s financial records.
Crane said Tuesday that the organization remains strong and that donations continue to be made. The nonprofit organization continues to undertake a strategic review of itself and officials will be sitting down with donors and members of the community in hopes of completing the process by the end of the year.