Waukee Buyers Pay $750,000 For Charred Home Jailed Developer Allegedly Set on Fire

Written by Beth Dalbey

A Waukee company recently purchased jailed Urbandale developer John Kline’s home for $750,000.

Imagine what the price might have been if the home hadn’t been a burned out shell. Before a fire that an insurance company alleged in a civil lawsuit was intentionally set, the property was assessed at $1,185,800, according to Polk County Assessor’s Office record.

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The property was sold by Two Rivers Bank & Trust, the bank that took possession of the six-acre property at 3536 129th St. in Urbandale, the Des Moines Register reported. The newspaper said SS Development of Waukee, which lists the same address as Scott and Stephanie Denton of Denton Homes, was the buyer.

At his sentencing in May on federal bank fraud charges, Kline told a U.S. District Court judge that he was “ashamed” and “humbled.” He is serving a two and one-half year sentence and must also make $1.2 million in restitution to banks, whose loans Kline and his business partner used to try to salvage failing projects.

Kline and his wife, Michelle Kline, have been accused of setting fire to the million-dollar Urbandale home in 2009 to collect insurance money. The Klines were not charged, but were named in a civil lawsuit filed in 2010 by American Family Mutual Insurance Co. that alleged they set fire to the home to collect on a $4 million insurance policy.

The lawsuit was settled in 2011, but terms were not disclosed, the Register reported.