Asheville Attorney in Equity Erased Probe Convicted, Facing Sentencing

A Buncombe County jury found Asheville attorney and investor Robert Perry Tucker II guilty on Feb. 26, 2026, of obtaining property by false pretenses and conspiracy to obtain property by false pretenses, and Superior Court Judge Louis A. Trosch Jr. later conducted sentencing, according to court accounts. Tucker has been a central figure in the Equity Erased investigative series that reviewed more than four dozen transactions in Buncombe County dating back to 2014.

Asheville Watchdog and subsequent reporting documented Tucker’s companies buying property interests for as little as $250 or nothing at all, with nearly half of affected homeowners identified as Black. Those findings prompted investigations by at least four agencies: the North Carolina Secretary of State, the North Carolina State Bar, the North Carolina Attorney General, and the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office.

Civil litigation tied to the Equity Erased reporting has already produced settlements. Attorney Tikkun Gottschalk filed a 2022 fraud suit on behalf of a person identified as Shroat, alleging a mortgage created a false lien; the case settled in 2023 with defendants agreeing to pay $116,000 to a guardianship for Shroat. Gottschalk said he found no evidence any money was lent or repaid in that transaction. Separate reporting noted Tucker and his company would still receive at least $45,000 from settlement proceeds.

The court record and local reporting include multiple victim accounts that shaped both civil and criminal cases. Robert Buckner Jr., who testified in April 2021, said Tucker promised a second payment tied to a sale and that he did not understand the documents he signed: “There’s no way I would sell my father’s home and property for $10,000.” Buckner’s court-appointed attorney James Kilbourne said the client had been “snookered.” In another matter, James David Dimsdale of Swannanoa said in a sworn affidavit, “I did not know I was signing a deed to the property and I never intended to sign a deed,” after a South Asheville house was recorded as sold to Asheville Holdings for $500 while Zillow valued the home at $188,800. Esther Manheimer, the lender insurer’s attorney and Asheville mayor, said, “It looks like they just got in there and hoodwinked him.” Tucker’s attorney Peter R. Henry said, “I have no idea how Mr. Dimsdale or why Mr. Dimsdale sold his interest for that.”

The criminal charges and the jury verdict reflect two different statutory narratives in reporting. Earlier indictments described Tucker, Ilesanmi Adaramola and Lisa K. Roberts as facing two counts each of filing a false lien and two counts each of conspiracy to file a false lien. The jury returned guilty verdicts on obtaining property by false pretenses and conspiracy to obtain property by false pretenses, according to court reporting.

Co-defendants remain under separate legal pressure. Adaramola and Roberts were arrested in 2022 on additional real estate-related charges; Biltmore Beacon reporting says Roberts faces 43 felony counts of fraud and forgery and Adaramola faces six counts of notary fraud. Adaramola’s attorney Stephen Lindsay said, “We’ll be prepared to defend it...[We] are pretty firm that we’re going to trial, unless they dismiss the charges.”

The conviction represents the most significant criminal outcome yet tied to the Equity Erased investigations, but reporting to date does not include a public sentencing order specifying term length or whether incarceration was imposed. Civil settlements, multiple agency probes, and pending criminal counts against Roberts and Adaramola mean the legal and financial fallout from the Equity Erased series will continue to play out in Buncombe County courts.