The previous owner of Twin Oaks Memorial Gardens and Mausoleum says she refuses to be made a scapegoat for the money problems of current cemetery operator Mike Terwilliger and his financial backer, William F. Clark Sr.

Meanwhile, despite a February foreclosure judgment against the cemetery, Terwilliger and Clark remain the owners of record.

That’s because the six individual investors who foreclosed couldn’t find any qualified buyers and thus didn’t complete the necessary “sheriff’s sale,” an attorney said Monday.

The Democrat-Herald began looking into the cemetery issue a month ago after receiving complaints of poor, slow service.

The investigation turned up two lawsuits: the aforementioned foreclosure case, plus a pending loan-default action brought against Terwilliger and Clark by the company from which they bought the cemetery in November 2005.

That company is Twin Oaks Memorial Park Inc., formed by Andres and Chantelle Hernandez of Jefferson. The company sold the cemetery for $800,000 and agreed to finance part of the sale with a $200,000 note; the rest of the financing came from those six individuals who foreclosed.

A Sunday story said Acuity Lending of Portland was the recipient of the foreclosure judgment and the new cemetery owner, but Acuity’s role was actually that of loan-servicing agent for the six investors, Portland attorney Slone Pearson said Monday. Pearson represents Acuity.

The Linn County Assessor’s Office still has Terwilliger and Clark listed as the cemetery’s owners.

According to a countersuit filed by Terwilliger against the Hernandezes’ company, the financial problems stem from more than $450,000 in trust fund deposits that the company failed to make on behalf of prepaid clients.

“I should have guessed that Mike would try and lie his way through this,” Chantelle Hernandez wrote in an e-mail Monday.

The paper had been unable to reach the couple last week.

“He is a master of deception,” Hernandez said of Terwilliger. “He claimed I owed an inflated amount of unfunded liability to divert attention from his liability.

“Twin Oaks’ unfunded liability goes back to 1957. Mr. Terwilliger signed a legal, notarized document stating he was aware of the amount as well as acknowledging that he reviewed documents and assumed 100 percent of Twin Oaks’ unfunded liability through November 2005. Then he turned around and lied to both myself and Mr. Clark. If I had mismanaged money, why did it take me suing him and well over two years for him to say anything?”

Court papers show Clark, a 91-year-old retired laborer, is seeking $600,000 from both Terwilliger and the Hernandezes’ company. He contends the Hernandezes misrepresented the value of the 15-acre property, and that Terwilliger breached his contract with him.

“He is a master manipulator,” Hernandez said of Terwilliger. “I have wanted to resolve this matter for some time without any effort from Mike on his part and no returned calls prior to any lawsuits.

“I have two grandsons buried at Twin Oaks. I only want what’s the best for the place. We maintained the cemetery year-round and made countless sacrifices for the place; it’s sad to see this.”

Steve Lundeberg is the Democrat-Herald's associate editor. He can be reached at steve.lundeberg@lee.net and keeps a blog at http://www.democratherald.com/dhblogs/steve_lundeberg/.