Your 14 December coverage of the defrauding of the LC Agricultural Land Trust had somewhat of a Gotcha! flavor to it, created by materially incomplete analysis of what appears to have taken place.

My view of the team headed by Chairman Bill Richmond is that they are devoted volunteers working for the best interest of the town. Your headline alarmed me. “They were ‘scammed’ doesn’t sound good. However, it turns out that, most importantly, they had proceeded, quite appropriately and professionally, obtaining an opinion on the validity of the title to the property being acquired, and that title opinion was backed up by a title insurance policy. This is the best practice in acquiring property. If title verification was completely straightforward in the real world, the whole industry of title insurance would not need to exist. In addition to bona fide issues as to clear titles, anyone transacting in real property can be subjected to fraud by a seller or a buyer, as was done here.

Realistically, it’s hard to see what more could have been done by the trust to conclude the purchase and be protected in reliance of attorneys and a title insurance company. In the end, despite being victimized by an experience fraudster, the process followed by the trust ultimately protected it and the people of Little Compton. The trust deserves more credit for their work in this matter specifically, and in all that they do for Little Compton. The lack of the full context is unfair to the members of the trust committee. The town should see them in the fairness of the light in full disclosure and proper context of a sophisticated fraud being committed. Criticize — or compliment — as appropriate. That’s what is best for the public.

Mike Hudner

Little Compton