The man behind the deal to purchase the St. James Hotel from the city of Selma for an amount far less than its appraised value denies that he was previously convicted in federal court on a charge of identity theft and sentenced to federal prison.

The council voted 6-3 last Thursday to sell the hotel to Kenneth Moore and Janee Hotel Corporation for $100,000.

According to records from the United States District Court of Northern Illinois and Connecticut, Moore pled guilty to federal identification theft in May 2004 and was sentenced to 43 months in prison and ordered to pay $209,669 in restitution.

According to a Reuters article about the case, Moore installed home security systems in Connecticut and was convicted of using a client’s personal information to obtain credit cards and finance a $200,000 shopping spree.

Court paperwork showed Moore was ordered to pay $250 a month in restitution but owed $213,812 by April 2014 due to accruing interest.

In a financial statement to the court, Moore said he was unemployed. He asked the court to waive interest on the restitution so he could pay down the principal while having money to support his family and for reasonable life expenses.

When asked about the case, Moore said he had “absolutely not” been charged with identification theft.

“I don’t know where that’s coming from. I think that’s incorrect,” Moore said. “I don’t know where that’s coming from. This is the reason why I don’t like talking to the media.”

The cell phone number the Times-Journal used to call Moore, and he used in correspondence with council members, is the same number listed as Moore’s number in federal court paperwork. When asked about the number being the same, Moore said, “I doubt that very much. I doubt that very much.”

Asked again to confirm if he had ever been charged with identification theft, Moore said, “Listen, I’m not going to have that conversation with you. I’ll be there on Monday, and I answered your question.”

In addition to the federal charges, Moore was also sued as recently as last year by an investor who claimed to be owed $40,000 over a condominium deal.

Filed in Vermont, the suit alleges Janee Hotel Corporation failed to make payments on a loan from plaintiff Jean Hobeich. Karl C. Anderson, an attorney representing Hobeich, said Wednesday that no judgment has been filed, and the full principal amount is still owed.

“We have yet to receive a judgment. I just filed that motion yesterday (Wednesday). I’m pretty confident we will get it,” Anderson said. “Nothing has been paid.”

Moore was also involved with the bankruptcy of a company called Suburban West Properties, which filed for Chapter 11 in May 2013 and later dissolved, according to The South Bend Tribune in Indiana. Moore was managing partner of that company, the Tribune reported.

Suburban West declared bankruptcy in 2013 related to the Baymont Inn and Suites Hotel in Macon, Georgia.

The Indiana newspaper became interested in Moore and Janee Hotel in late 2013 because they were partners in a deal to buy and renovate the 25-story Chase Tower, the tallest building in South Bend.

The Tribune’s reporting focused on Cedric Franklin and his company, Harley Standfield Global Corp., which planned to purchase the tower and invest $40 million in it. The Tribune found that Franklin wasn’t honest about his academic record or military service and couldn’t identify any projects his company claimed to have completed.

Franklin told the Tribune that Janee Hotel Group approached Harley Standfield Global about being partners on the South Bend project.

However, Janee Hotel’s then director of development Ronald Williams told the Tribune that Janee Hotel Group had no affiliation with Moore’s Suburban West despite both having the same address in Naperville, Illinois.

Franklin later acknowledged the bankruptcy, telling the Tribune, “You find me a significant developer of any consequence that hasn’t filed for bankruptcy or had financial problems at one point or another.”

Moore said he would be in Selma on Monday. He has been to multiple council meetings over the past few months and initially made an offer to pay $500,000 for the hotel. With that deal, he wanted tax incentives and for the city to retain partial ownership for six years. The $100,000 offer is cash.

Moore has told the council he has the financial backing to put $4.5 million of renovations and expansions into the hotel.

He presented the council with a letter from “Private Capital Group” out of Alpine, Utah pledging financial backing for a loan to pay for renovations. The first sentence of that letter is, “We are interested in providing a loan for The St. James Hotel located in Selema, Ga.”

Jed Robinson, who is listed as “director” on PCG’s website, said his company has worked with Moore on two hotel projects in Vermont and Kentucky, but would not name the hotels “without talking to Kenneth (Moore) first.”

“We’ve lent to Mr. Moore before, he’s paid off loans in the past, and we have a working relationship with him,” Robinson said. “We do a lot of hotel financing for renovation and construction.”

Robinson said Moore had paid off the loan on one of the projects, and the loan on the other project was being paid off and was current.

When asked if he had been contacted by city of Selma officials, or anyone representing them, about the St. James project, Robinson said, “Not specifically. They could have talked to someone else, but I’ve not spoken to them.”

In the letter Moore provided to the council, PCG said it would need an appraisal, a flag agreement from Choice Hotels and a construction contract with a bondable company, among other terms.

According to Moore, his company has bought, renovated and sold more than 17 branded hotels since 2009 and currently owns seven hotels across the country, including a Four Points by Sheraton, two LaQuinta Inn and Suites and a Best Western Premier.

“I do know that they voted to sell the hotel to us. However, I think there is one last hurdle voting on the ordinance for us to go forward,” Moore said. “My plans are to be in town Monday to finish up and hopefully wrap up the next steps.”

Moore said his company plans to operate the hotel when the deal closes.

“Our plans are to refurbish and renovate the hotel back to its natural, rich historic value. We plan on keeping this hotel in our portfolio for quite some time. We are not interested in selling the hotel,” Moore said. “We are really excited about coming to Selma. We just hope we can get the cooperation from the city.”

The city paid $12,000 for an appraisal in May that showed the hotel to be worth $900,000 and had been discussing listing the property with a real estate company out of Atlanta that specializes in the sale of hotels. The real estate group would have charged the city a flat $70,000 commission regardless of what the hotel eventually sold for.

Council President Corey Bowie voted for the sale along with Bennie Ruth Crenshaw, Michael Johnson, Susan Keith, Angela Benjamin and B.L. Tucker. Greg Bjelke, Sam Randolph and Cecil Williamson voted against the deal.

After being contacted Thursday by the Times-Journal about Moore’s background, Keith sent an email to the council recommending the city not continue with the proposed sale.

“Unfortunately, I have uncovered some troubling things about Mr. Moore and his past dealings, including fraud in business dealings,” Keith said in the email, which she provided to the Times-Journal. “This is not someone with whom the city of Selma needs to do business.”

Keith, who heads the council’s St. James committee, said the city was already using a law firm in Birmingham to help complete due diligence on Moore and his company.

“I found out enough to know we need to do some checking. I knew we needed to get a big attorney,” Keith said.

Asked why Moore’s background wasn’t checked more thoroughly before the council voted to sell him the hotel, Keith said, “We voted to accept an offer, and we are doing the due diligence. We have not finalized the deal.”

The St. James has been under daily city management since Strand Management left in March 2015. The hotel has been costing about $25,000 a month to operate.

In recent weeks, several hotel employees have been laid off or had their shifts reduced to help save on payroll expenses.

The city council’s next meeting will be Tuesday at noon at City Hall to canvass the results of this week’s municipal elections.

Updated at 4:45 p.m. Aug. 25, 2016, to include information from Private Capital Group.