CRIMINAL REFERRAL

Felony Theft, Exploitation of At-Risk Persons, and Documentary Fraud

Arising from the Misappropriation of the John H. Frenzl Trust

Respondents: Justin Wayne Imhof ("JWI") and Teresa Jo Imhof ("TJI")

Version 2 — Revised and Verified Referral

Date of this referral: June 13, 2026

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SUBMITTED TO

The Investigating Law Enforcement Agency

This is a citizen criminal referral submitted for investigation. The conduct described occurred principally in Washington, Yuma, and Logan Counties, Colorado, and a related voluntary statement was previously given to the Washington County Sheriff's Office (November 4, 2024). It is submitted with the request that this matter be investigated and referred to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and to the office with prosecutorial jurisdiction (the District Attorney for the judicial district of venue and/or the Colorado Attorney General, Special Prosecutions Section, which holds concurrent jurisdiction over elder financial exploitation under C.R.S. § 24-31-101).

SUBMITTED BY

Landon E. Eskew — Beneficiary, John H. Frenzl Trust (970) 370-1798 | landon@highlinewater.com

Devin A. Eskew — Beneficiary, John H. Frenzl Trust (719) 757-5244 | devin@ms-infrastructure.com

RELATED CASES OF RECORD

NOTICE: This document is a citizen criminal referral prepared by the victims/beneficiaries. It is investigative work product. Legal conclusions stated herein are the referrers' good-faith contentions based on the documents cited; final charging decisions rest with law enforcement and the prosecuting authority. Where a contention rests on inference rather than a document, it is identified as such.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Executive Summary
2. Parties and Key Definitions
3. Statement of Facts (Verified Chronology)
4. Tier One — Primary Charges (Probable Cause Established)
5. Tier Two — Additional Conduct Warranting Investigation
6. Teresa Jo Imhof — Separate and Joint Culpability
7. The Pattern — A Second Family (Lueking / Bartlett)
8. Anticipated Defenses and Rebuttals
9. Why This Is Criminal, Not Merely a Civil Dispute
10. Evidence Index (Appendices A–H and Supplemental Exhibits)
11. Request for Action and Notice
12. Contact Information

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

For more than a decade, the John H. Frenzl Trust — an irrevocable trust created October 4, 2000 and locked in upon John Frenzl's death on December 15, 2012 — was systematically drained of income, equipment, and land for the benefit of one family: the Imhofs. The two men who built the operation, John and Lewis Frenzl, intended that John's half pass to their cousins and a memorial scholarship. Instead, Justin Wayne Imhof — first as the operator who controlled the books, then as Personal Representative of Lewis Frenzl's Estate and Successor Trustee of John Frenzl's Trust at the same time — placed himself on both sides of every transaction and moved the assets to himself.

The single fact that requires no forensic accounting to understand: On November 26, 2024, Justin Imhof's own attorney, Russell J. Sprague of Wright Johnson & Oldfather, L.L.P., admitted in a certified letter that $442,676.55 was owed back from the Estate of Lewis Frenzl to the John H. Frenzl Trust, arising out of an I.R.C. § 1031 land exchange Justin engineered between the two entities he controlled. That admission, standing alone, establishes a Class 3 felony — it exceeds the $100,000 theft threshold by more than 442% and independently qualifies as theft against an at-risk person under C.R.S. § 18-6.5-103(5). When the scheme is aggregated with the additional documented losses set out below, the value crosses the $1,000,000 threshold for a Class 2 felony under C.R.S. § 18-4-401; and because the victims include at-risk elders and Justin acted in a position of trust, the offense carries the mandatory and enhanced sentencing consequences of C.R.S. § 18-6.5-103.

That admission is not the whole of it. It is the floor.

What the documents show:

• An elderly, ailing 75-year-old man (Bill Eskew) was driven to four different notaries and finally a UPS Store to sign a single sheet of paper he was told authorized a land trade, when it in fact helped finalize a multi-million-dollar land sale/exchange that stripped the Trust. He never received a copy. He died nineteen days later. His widow Karen has testified to all of this under oath.
• The land exchange split roughly $2.8 million of value to Justin's side and only ~$1.8 million to the Trust — an exchange Justin's own counsel later conceded left the Trust $442,676.55 short.
• Justin was listed as "Trustee" on the Trust's bank account before Lewis Frenzl was dead and before Justin held any legal title to the role.
• The lease rent was never really paid. For the two years rent did move (the 2017 and 2018 crop years), an identical **$36,500 trust check to Lewis Frenzl — written in Justin's handwriting — cleared back out the same day a matching $36,500 deposit came in, so the money made a paper round-trip and the Trust netted nothing (2017 check dated 11/27/2017, JWI000467–JWI000468; 2018 check dated 12/31/2018, cleared 1/4/2019, JWI000450–JWI000451). The 2018 check's signature block bears a "Lewis Frenzl" signature stripped of the genuine "C." middle initial and "TTEE," plus a separate "Justin Imhof" notation. In 2019, 2021, and 2022 no rent was paid at all, and the 2023 rent was paid roughly four months late (April 2024) — and only after Bill Eskew died and his sons began asking questions. A year earlier, a $34,500 "rent" check dated 11/28/2016 was produced as proof of payment (JWI001401) but was never deposited anywhere — the operating bank account had been closed in August 2016. All of this occurred while Justin held no legal title** to the Trust.
• Trust lease income had already collapsed from $85,000 (2013) to $34,500 (2014) — confirmed by the Frenzls' 40-year accountant under oath — and from 2017 forward the operation paid no net rent at all by the means just described.
• Days before a court proceeding to remove him, Justin moved Schedule A trust equipment 70 miles away and sold it at auction on October 9, 2024.
• The same conduct reached a second elderly family: three backdated leases signed in the name of a dead man (Otto Lueking) — across two counties — were recorded in the 48 hours bracketing the death of the Lueking Estate's Personal Representative, Iona Bartlett (died January 18, 2024, age 87): two recorded the day before she died, one the day after.

This referral is deliberately disciplined. It leads with the seven charges that the evidence supports to a beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard and segregates the remainder into a clearly-labeled investigation tier so that the strongest counts are not diluted. Taken together, the documents establish not a misunderstanding between relatives but a multi-year, multi-document, multi-victim pattern of fraud and misappropriation.

We are asking the investigating agency to do what eighteen-plus months of correspondence has not yet produced: open a criminal investigation, pull the bank records, and refer this to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and a prosecutor with the resources to act.

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2. PARTIES AND KEY DEFINITIONS

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3. STATEMENT OF FACTS (VERIFIED CHRONOLOGY)

The following chronology is drawn from documents in the referrers' possession and from sworn deposition testimony. Citations to exhibits (Appendix A–H) and depositions follow the standard form [Witness Depo, Page X Lines Y–Z].

October 4, 2000 — John and Lewis Frenzl execute mirror-image estate plans on the same day. John's half is placed in the irrevocable John H. Frenzl Trust, directing that $150,000 first fund a scholarship and the remainder pass to family (including Bill Eskew) and Teresa Imhof.

December 15, 2012 — John Frenzl dies. The JHF Trust becomes irrevocable and unchangeable. From this date forward, no one — including Trustee Lewis Frenzl — had authority to alter John's distributive scheme.

2013–2014 — Trust lease income from the Imhof operation drops from $85,000 (2013) to $34,500 (2014) and remains depressed thereafter. The Frenzls' accountant of 40 years, Melanie Krening, testified to this collapse and to her standing concern that the lease was below market value [Krening Depo, Page 73 Lines 1–17].

April 17, 2015 — Lewis Frenzl, as Trustee of the JHF Trust, mortgages a free-and-clear 560-acre tract (Section 17-1S-49W: NE¼, E½NW¼, and S½) — 50% owned by the JHF Trust — for $335,000 from Northstar Bank of Colorado, and directs the loan proceeds to Justin and Jamie Imhof as the down payment on grassland the Imhofs bought for themselves. The JHF Trust received no proceeds (the bank's later Full Release confirms the Trust got nothing), yet its 50% interest secured the debt, and the tract has since come to be held 100% by Justin Imhof with no consideration paid back to the Trust. This is the same 560-acre Section 17 tract that Justin later deeded entirely to himself on November 30, 2023 (REC#883505, below) and then omitted from the December 2023 § 1031 exchange — so the Trust's 50% was never restored. The Trust's half of this tract is included in the Count 2 aggregation. (Source: 4/17/2015 NSBC $335,000 mortgage of Section 17 to fund the Imhofs' purchase of the adjoining Dressel land in Sec 20/21; confirm against the certified mortgage and Full Release.)

October 4, 2015 — Lewis Frenzl, while serving as Trustee of his dead brother's irrevocable trust, replaces his own estate plan to route his entire 50% interest to Justin W. Imhof, naming Teresa Jo Imhof as Personal Representative. Independent witnesses date the onset of financial changes to "when Justin came into the picture, probably 2016" and describe Justin asking the financial advisor how to "break a trust" [Hart Depo, Page 36 Lines 2–14; Page 55 Lines 17–25].

2016–2023 — the lease-rent record (self-dealing through the lease and bank account). Once the books were under Justin's control, no net lease rent ever actually reached the JHF Trust:

• 2016 — a $34,500 rent check dated November 28, 2016 is produced in the disclosures as proof of payment (JWI001401), but it was never deposited in any account; the operating bank account had been closed in August 2016 by Justin and Teresa Imhof. (Whether a separate, undisclosed JHF account existed is unknown — a Sheriff [OBTAIN] item.) A "paid" check that was never negotiated is a manufactured record, not a payment.
• 2017 — $36,500 rent deposited 11/28/2017 and immediately round-tripped back out by a JHF Trust check, in Justin's handwriting, dated 11/27/2017 (JWI000467–JWI000468) — net zero to the Trust.
• 2018 — $36,500 rent deposited 1/4/2019 and round-tripped back out by a JHF Trust check, in Justin's handwriting, dated 12/31/2018 (JWI000450–JWI000451) — net zero to the Trust.
• 2019, 2021, 2022 — no rent paid at all (no check in or out for the year-end of those crop years) [Krening Depo, Page 106–107].
• 2023 — rent paid roughly four months late, in April 2024, and on the record it appears it would not have been paid at all but for Bill Eskew's death (January 4, 2024) and his sons beginning to ask questions.

Lewis Frenzl subsidized the Trust from his own funds and annuity to keep it afloat while the operator paid nothing — including a $100,000 deposit (8/4/2021) traceable to Lewis's own account (JWI000400–JWI000403) and a further $46,000 from his Farm Account. The operation was being starved while the man working it paid no net rent.

November 28, 2016 — A $34,500 JHF Trust "rent" check dated 11/28/2016 appears in the disclosures (Bates JWI001401) as proof that rent was paid — but no matching deposit exists in any account, and the operating bank account had been closed in August 2016. The check was never negotiated. It is a record created to look like a payment that never occurred. (Whether a separate, undisclosed JHF account existed is a Sheriff [OBTAIN] item.)

November 27–28, 2017 — $36,500 rent is deposited into the Trust on 11/28/2017 and the same $36,500 is written straight back out by a JHF Trust check in Justin's handwriting, dated 11/27/2017 (Bates JWI000467–JWI000468) — a same-window round-trip, net zero to the Trust. This is the first of two such round-trips (the other in 2018). The 2017 check bears the signature "Lewis _C._ Frenzl TTEE" — middle initial and trustee designation both present — establishing the genuine signature template against which the 2018 check (which drops both and adds a "Justin Imhof" notation) is measured. (Source: JHF Trust bank statement, Nov. 2017 / acct. 5024132, p. 2.)

December 31, 2018 → January 4, 2019 — $36,500 rent is deposited into the Trust on 1/4/2019 and the same $36,500 is written back out by a JHF Trust check in Justin's handwriting, dated 12/31/2018, cleared 1/4/2019 (Bates JWI000450–JWI000451) — the second round-trip, again net zero. The check body is in Justin's hand; its signature block carries a "Lewis Frenzl" signature stripped of the genuine "C." and "TTEE" present on the 2017 check, plus a separate "Justin Imhof" notation. Justin held no fiduciary title at the time. (Source: JHF Trust bank statement, Dec. 2018 / acct. 5024132, p. 2.)

2019, 2021, 2022 — No rent was paid in or out for these crop years at all. (A prior internal worksheet had logged a third "2019" $36,500 round-trip; the Bates-stamped bank disclosures show no 2019 check either direction, so that entry is withdrawn — the apparent third instance was the 12/31/2018 check that cleared on 1/4/2019, counted twice.)

July 9, 2021 — WaCo REC#878394 (TBK consolidation). Justin, Jamie, Lewis, and the JHF Trust sign a $850,000 Deed of Trust to TBK Bank, jointly and severally, pledging the Trust's 50% of Section 17 as collateral alongside five Imhof-owned parcels. The instrument omits the "Permitted Prior Encumbrances" rider that would have placed the Trust's 50% claim on the lender's record, and its "Successor in Interest" language pre-builds a path for a later transferee to take the collateral quietly. Title did not move — but the Trust's footprint on Section 17 was erased from the record and its asset was weaponized against itself.

August 2, 2021 — WaCo REC#878518 (NSBC Full Release). Northstar Bank releases the 2015 $335,000 Section 17 mortgage — with no credit, payment, or accounting to the Trust for the half it had pledged. After this, the only recorded instrument that had named the Trust on Section 17 is closed out. (Together, 7/9 and 8/2/2021 are the predicate/concealment for the 11/30/2023 self-deed below — see 2026.06.15 Section 17 — How 560ac Reached Justin. This answers prior open item O-3: there was no 2021 conveyance; 2023 is the operative transfer.)

Late 2022 / before January 14, 2023 — Justin Imhof is listed as "Trustee" on the Trust's Farmers State Bank account (acct. 4132) — with the bank's records showing an Avery printer sticker placed over the prior name and an address change dated after December 10, 2022 — before Lewis Frenzl had died and before Justin held the legal title. (Appendix B / Petitioner's Exhibit 47).

January 14, 2023 — Lewis Frenzl dies (age 86; confirmed by published obituary, Bowin Funeral Home). (The bank statement dated 1/10/2023 is "four days before" death and is not the date of death; an earlier draft erroneously stated "January 10.")

February 2, 2023 — Justin appointed Personal Representative of the Estate of Lewis Frenzl (WaCo 2023PR30002).

February 13–15, 2023 — The JHF Trustee role passes in rapid succession: Bill Eskew held it from Lewis's death (January 14) through February 13, 2023; Teresa Imhof held it for a single day (February 14); and on February 15, 2023 it passed to Justin. From this point Justin controls both the Estate (as Personal Representative, appointed February 2) and the Trust — both sides of every transaction between them.

August 22, 2023 and December 18, 2023 — Justin and Teresa Imhof come to Bill and Karen Eskew's home and obtain Bill's notarized signature. Bill — 75 and in poor health — believed he was authorizing a land trade, not a sale. The couple was driven to multiple notaries and finally signed at a UPS Store; the document remained in the Imhofs' hands; Bill never received a copy [Karen Eskew Depo, Page 23 Lines 10–25, Page 24 Lines 1–19]. Karen: "Bill would have never wanted to be selling that land. That's been back in the family for years."

November 30, 2023 — WaCo REC#883505. Justin, as Personal Representative of Lewis's Estate, executes a Personal Representative's Deed of Distribution conveying property to himself individually — a deed that expressly includes "Section 17: S½, NE¼; E½NW¼" (the very 560-acre tract Lewis mortgaged for the Imhofs in 2015, above), along with a large set of additional Washington County parcels and oil/gas/mineral interests. The Trust's 50% interest in Section 17 was treated as if it were 100% Estate property and swept to Justin individually — with no carve-out and no consideration to the JHF Trust.

December 2023 — Justin structures an I.R.C. § 1031 exchange between the Estate (which he represents) and the Trust (of which he is Trustee), allocating roughly $2.8 million of value to his side and only ~$1.8 million to the Trust. The § 1031 exchange documents say nothing about returning the Trust's half of the Section 17 tract that Justin had just deeded to himself — confirming there was never any intent to make the Trust whole on it.

January 4, 2024 — Bill Eskew dies. His sons Landon and Devin become successor beneficiaries.

On or about January 19–25, 2024 — The § 1031 exchange is finalized and recorded in the weeks surrounding Bill's death — using Bill's signature, without the knowledge or signature of the successor beneficiaries, who would have refused. The transaction left the Trust the $442,676.55 short that Justin's counsel later admitted.

March 24, 2024 — Justin emails Landon and Devin (from imhof.justin@gmail.com, 2:43 p.m.) a two-page "agreement," writing: "This needs signed by everyone to satisfy the bank. Everyone can sign there own copy, we don't need all signatures on the same copy. They want this done soon, within the next couple weeks." The attachment (Frenzl.John.Trust.Agreement re land.clean.pdf) would have waived all claims and handed Justin total control of the Estate, Trust, and scholarship. They refused (Appendix C — the email and the agreement are in evidence). In the same period Justin tells Landon he has no intention of funding the $150,000 scholarship.

October 9, 2024 — Five days before a scheduled removal proceeding, Justin moves Schedule A trust equipment ~70 miles to his own property in the next county and sells it at auction. The only items included in the October 9, 2024 auction were a Freightliner semi-truck and a Merritt grain trailer. The auction company's 200+ listing photos and drone footage document the matching VINs and serial numbers (Appendix — auction listing set). (Other Schedule A assets — including a 1971 Ford Ranger and a 2012 Case-IH Patriot sprayer — were not in this auction and remain unaccounted for; see "Throughout," below.)

October 14, 2024 — Civil proceeding to remove Justin as Trustee.

November 26, 2024 — THE ADMISSION. Justin's counsel Russell J. Sprague (Wright Johnson & Oldfather, L.L.P.) sends a certified letter to then-Trustee Tammy Conover stating the Estate owes the Trust $442,676.55 from the § 1031 exchange "and… settling-up on some expenses owed between the Trust and the Estate," enclosing a check for that amount (Appendix D).

May 2025 / June 2, 2025 — The parties enter an Executed Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release (June 2, 2025) resolving the civil trust matter. (The financial terms have not been finalized or paid; no asset has been sold and no award has been received as of this referral. See Section 9 — a civil release does not extinguish criminal liability.)

Throughout — No true and formal accounting of the JHF Trust has ever been produced. Multiple Schedule A assets remain unaccounted for, including:

• a 1971 Ford Ranger (last photographed in the Frenzl farm shed on November 26, 2015);
• a brand-new 2012 Case-IH Patriot sprayer (single-boom; estimated MSRP in excess of $250,000) delivered to the Frenzl operation on or about September 17, 2012 — while John Frenzl was still alive — which was photographed at Justin Imhof's residence by 2016 and never returned to or accounted for by the Trust. The sprayer was amortized and depreciated by someone other than John Frenzl; witnesses indicate it was taken to Justin's property shortly after its purchase and used for the benefit of the Imhof operation for the remainder of its service life. Justin has characterized the sprayer as a "gift" to him from Lewis Frenzl — an account that, even if Lewis said it, describes a conflicted trustee giving away six-figure trust/operation property and is itself evidence of the diversion (no delivery/title record has been produced; a Sheriff [OBTAIN] item); and
• the JHF Trust's 50% interest in the 560-acre Section 17 tract mortgaged for the Imhofs' benefit in 2015 (see April 17, 2015, above), deeded 100% to Justin via the November 30, 2023 PR deed (REC#883505) with no consideration back to the Trust.

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4. TIER ONE — PRIMARY CHARGES (PROBABLE CAUSE ESTABLISHED)

These seven counts are supported, in the referrers' assessment, to a beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard on the documents cited. They should be read first and investigated first.

COUNT 1 — Criminal Exploitation of an At-Risk Person — C.R.S. § 18-6.5-103(7.5) (Class 3 Felony)

Respondents: JWI and TJI (jointly).

Elements: Knowingly using deception, intimidation, or undue influence to permanently deprive an at-risk person of the use, benefit, or possession of a thing of value.

Facts and proof:

• Bill Eskew was 75 (born February 27, 1948) and Lewis Frenzl was 86 at his death (born July 16, 1936; he was 78–86 across the years of the conduct) — each an at-risk person by age under C.R.S. § 18-6.5-102 (70 or older). Karen Eskew (born May 6, 1954) was 69 at the December 2023 signing — a victim of the same scheme, though the at-risk-by-age elders for this count are Bill and Lewis.
• Lewis Frenzl was himself exploited as a high-risk elder. While serving as Trustee of his deceased brother's irrevocable trust, the 78–79-year-old Lewis was induced to mortgage Trust land for the Imhofs' benefit (April 17, 2015 — $335,000, no proceeds to the Trust), to rewrite his own estate plan to route his entire interest to Justin (October 4, 2015), and to subsidize the starved Trust from his own funds and annuity (including a $100,000 deposit on 8/4/2021 traceable to Lewis's own account, Bates JWI000400–JWI000403, plus ~$46,000 from his Farm Account) — all while Justin held Lewis's documents and Lewis, per sworn testimony, did not understand the finances [Hart Depo, Page 40–43; Krening Depo, Page 43–45]. The same exploitation of an elderly, isolated, childless man was later turned on Bill and Karen.
• Justin and Teresa came repeatedly to the Eskew home and obtained Bill's signature on an instrument he understood to be a land trade, while it operated to strip the Trust [Karen Eskew Depo, Page 14–16; Page 23–24].
• Bill was driven to multiple notaries and a UPS Store, never given a copy, and died nineteen days later having never learned the truth.
• Premeditation is corroborated by the financial advisor: Justin's unsolicited inquiry into how to "break a trust" [Hart Depo, Page 55 Lines 17–25].

Why it is the lead count: It requires no dollar-tracing — only the deception of an elder by a person in a position of trust, which the sworn testimony supplies directly. Under C.R.S. § 18-6.5-103, a defendant in a position of trust faces a mandatory minimum at the midpoint of the presumptive range.

COUNT 2 — Theft (Aggregated) — C.R.S. § 18-4-401, elevated under § 18-6.5-103 (Class 2 Felony)

Respondent: JWI (with TJI as beneficiary of the scheme — see Section 6).

Elements: Knowingly obtaining or exercising control over a thing of value of another, without authorization or by deception, intending to deprive permanently.

Facts and proof:

• The $442,676.55 admission by Justin's own counsel (Appendix D) is an admission by a party-opponent and establishes the value element without a forensic accountant. Theft of $100,000–$1,000,000 is a Class 3 felony (§ 18-4-401), and theft of $500 or more against an at-risk person is independently a Class 3 felony (§ 18-6.5-103(5)); the admitted $442,676.55 is therefore a Class 3 felony on the admission alone. The Class 2 classification is reached when the scheme is aggregated above $1,000,000 by value under § 18-4-401(4)(b) (one scheme / course of conduct against the same person); the at-risk-elder and position-of-trust dimensions (§ 18-6.5-103) carry independent mandatory and enhanced sentencing. Alternatively, the discrete takings that each clear $100,000 (the $442,676.55 §1031 shortfall; the ~$279,000 Section 17 half; the ~$250,000 sprayer) may each be charged as separate Class 3 felonies and pleaded in the alternative to the aggregate — see 2026.06.15 Charge-Stacking Theory — Theft Counts Against JWI.
• The dual-fiduciary mechanism: As both Personal Representative of the Estate and Trustee of the Trust, Justin negotiated the § 1031 exchange with himself. There was no arms-length party, no independent oversight, and complete control of the documentation on both sides — the classic structure for self-dealing prohibited by the trustee's duty of loyalty, C.R.S. § 15-5-802 (Colorado Uniform Trust Code). Colorado's consolidated theft statute, § 18-4-401, by its terms reaches a fiduciary who lawfully holds property of another and then exercises control over it without authorization or by deception — embezzlement is prosecuted as theft. (Supporting case authority to be supplied by counsel. A prior draft's parenthetical citation to "People v. Shockley, 108 P.3d 1127" is withdrawn as unverified — the only Colorado People v. Shockley is an unrelated 1978 obstruction case; see verification to-do.)
• Aggregation under § 18-4-401(4)(b) — "when a person commits theft twice or more against the same person pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct, the thefts may be aggregated and charged in a single count" — is the correct vehicle here. Subsection (4)(a)'s six-month window does not limit us: every taking was against one entity (the JHF Trust) / one person (LCF) as part of a single continuous scheme, so (4)(b) aggregates the whole multi-year course of conduct with no time limit. (The same multi-year recurrence — e.g., the identical $36,500 round-trip in both FY2018 and FY2019 — is itself proof of "one scheme or course of conduct.") The aggregate is built from:
• the admitted $442,676.55 Estate→Trust shortfall (Appendix D);
• the unpaid / round-tripped lease rents — conservatively ~$182,500 across five crop years in which no net rent reached the Trust: 2017 and 2018 (each ~$36,500 deposited then written straight back out by a check in Justin's hand — Bates JWI000467–468 and JWI000450–451) and 2019, 2021, 2022 (no payment at all), with the 2016 "rent" check never negotiated (JWI001401) and 2023 paid only months late under scrutiny;
• the JHF Trust's 50% of the 560-acre Section 17 tract — Lewis pledged the Trust's land as collateral for a $335,000 loan on April 17, 2015; the tract was never appraised after Lewis's 2023 death because Justin omitted it, then deeded the whole tract to himself (REC#883505). On a conservative 60% loan-to-value (typical for raw grassland), a $335,000 loan implies a full value of roughly $558,000, of which the Trust's half is approximately $279,000 — taken with no consideration;
• the 2012 Case-IH Patriot sprayer — a brand-new single-boom Patriot delivered to the Frenzl operation in 2012 (while John was alive), with an estimated minimum MSRP of ~$250,000, depreciated by someone other than John, and relocated to Justin's residence (visible there on September 2016 aerial imagery);
• the auctioned and remaining unaccounted-for Schedule A equipment (Freightliner, Merritt trailer, 1971 Ford Ranger, sprayer, four-wheeler); and
• the unfunded $150,000 scholarship obligation.

Together these push the aggregate over the $1,000,000 Class 2 threshold on value — the admitted $442,676.55, plus ~$182,500 rents, plus ~$279,000 (Section 17), plus ~$250,000 (sprayer), plus the $150,000 scholarship, exceeds $1.3 million before the auctioned equipment is even counted. (The ~$279,000 figure rests on a conservative 60% LTV pending a formal appraisal the Sheriff can compel; either way the Trust's interest was taken without consideration.)

Investigative ask: Subpoena the complete JHF Trust and Estate banking records (Farmers State Bank acct. 4132 and related) to trace the $442,676.55 and quantify the aggregate.

COUNT 3 — Obtaining a Signature by Deception (Real Property) — C.R.S. § 18-5-112 (Class 5 Felony)

Respondents: JWI and TJI (jointly).

Correction to prior draft: The earlier version charged this as a Class 2 misdemeanor. Because the instrument affects title to real property, C.R.S. § 18-5-112 makes it a Class 5 felony.

Facts and proof: Bill Eskew signed believing the document authorized a trade; it operated to convey/exchange Trust land. Justin knew of Bill's misunderstanding and did not correct it; Teresa was present. The Eskews were never given a copy [Karen Eskew Depo, Page 23–24]. The transaction is the same § 1031 exchange that produced the admitted $442,676.55 shortfall.

COUNT 4 — Forgery and Unauthorized Trust Disbursement (the $36,500 rent round-trips and the 2016 phantom check) — C.R.S. § 18-5-102 (Class 5 Felony)

Respondent: JWI.

For the only two years rent moved, it round-tripped straight back out — and a third "payment" was never real. In both the 2017 and 2018 crop years a $36,500 rent deposit into the JHF Trust was matched by a $36,500 JHF Trust check, written in Justin's handwriting, paid out to Lewis Frenzl in the same window — net zero to the Trust. A year earlier, a $34,500 "rent" check (2016) was produced as proof but never negotiated. At the time of all of these acts, Justin held no fiduciary title to the Trust.

• 2016 — the phantom check. A $34,500 JHF Trust rent check dated 11/28/2016 appears in the disclosures as proof of payment (Bates JWI001401) but was never deposited in any account, and the operating account had been closed in August 2016. A check authored to paper the file as a payment that never happened is, depending on its signature, a forged or false instrument and at minimum evidence of intent to deceive.

• 2017 — the genuine in-series template. $36,500, written 11/27/2017, cleared 11/28/2017 (Bates JWI000467–JWI000468; JHF Trust bank statement, Nov. 2017, acct. 5024132, p. 2). Body in Justin's hand, but signed "Lewis _C._ Frenzl TTEE" — middle initial and trustee designation both present. Not itself the charged forgery; it is the known-genuine exemplar — the same recurring check, one year earlier, signed correctly — and the strongest comparison point for the 2018 signature.

• 2018 — the forgery instance. $36,500, dated 12/31/2018, cleared 1/4/2019 (Bates JWI000450–JWI000451; JHF Trust bank statement, Dec. 2018, acct. 5024132, p. 2). Body in Justin's hand; its signature block bears a cursive "Lewis Frenzl" that drops both the middle "C." and the "TTEE" present on the genuine 2017 check, plus a separate "Justin Imhof" notation below the line. If that "Lewis Frenzl" signature is not genuine, this is forgery under § 18-5-102; either way, the within-series degradation (2017 correct → 2018 stripped) and Justin's own hand on the body and signature block of a Trust check he had no title to write are independently significant. (Forgery characterization pending forensic handwriting analysis — a Sheriff [OBTAIN] item; cropped scans are in Appendix A.)

These instruments also corroborate Count 2's course of conduct — the identical maneuver two years running, bracketed by a manufactured 2016 "payment" and years of no payment at all, is direct evidence of "one scheme or course of conduct" under § 18-4-401(4)(b).

COUNT 5 — Offering a False Instrument for Recording, First Degree — C.R.S. § 18-5-114 (Class 5 Felony)

Respondent: JWI (witnessed by Jamie M. Imhof).

Facts and proof (CORRECTED and strengthened): Justin recorded three separate backdated Lueking leases across two counties, each signed in the name of Otto E. Lueking Jr., who was deceased, and all recorded in January 2024 — long after their purported execution dates:

Iona Bartlett — the Personal Representative of the Lueking Estate and the one living person positioned to dispute these leases — died January 18, 2024 (age 87). The two Yuma County leases were recorded the day before her death (January 17); the Logan County lease was recorded the day after (January 19). Recording instruments signed by a dead man, three to four years after their stated dates, in the 48 hours bracketing the death of the estate's representative, is offering a false instrument for recording with intent to defraud. (Recording dates/numbers from the certified Logan and Yuma County records in evidence; Bartlett's death date 1/18/2024 per the Frenzl timeline — confirm against her death record.)

COUNT 6 — Criminal Impersonation — C.R.S. § 18-5-113 (Class 6 Felony)

Respondent: JWI.

Facts and proof: Justin caused himself to be listed as "Trustee" on the Trust's bank account before Lewis Frenzl's death (Jan 14, 2023) and before his own legal appointment (Feb 15, 2023) — the bank record bearing an Avery sticker over the prior trustee's name and a post-12/10/2022 address change (Appendix B / Exhibit 47). In that false capacity he directed account and paperwork matters with counsel Kelly Hansen. Investigative ask: obtain the bank signature cards and the documents Justin presented to the bank to be added.

COUNT 7 — Tampering with Physical Evidence — C.R.S. § 18-8-610 (Class 6 Felony)

Respondent: JWI.

Facts and proof: With a removal proceeding imminent (filed October 14, 2024), Justin moved Schedule A trust equipment ~70 miles to his own property and sold it at an October 9, 2024 auction, impairing its availability to the proceeding. The auction company's 200+ photos and drone footage document the items by VIN/serial. (Timeline note: the auction preceded the filing by days; the count rests on Justin's knowledge that the proceeding was imminent — established by his March 2024 refusal exchange and the Eskews' known investigation — and on his continued non-disclosure after filing.)

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5. TIER TWO — ADDITIONAL CONDUCT WARRANTING INVESTIGATION

These are real and documented, but are presented honestly as second-tier: each needs an additional record, or is better folded into the aggregated theft count, or is a closer legal call. They are included so that nothing is lost — not to pad the count.

Charges affirmatively NOT recommended as standalone criminal counts (the referrers' prior draft included these; on review they are better treated as civil breaches, sentencing context, or are legally a poor fit, and including them would dilute the strong counts):

• § 18-5-309 Money Laundering — the conduct is theft/embezzlement, not laundering of proceeds of a separate predicate; treat as theft.
• § 6-16-111 Charitable Fraud — no public solicitation; the unfunded $150,000 scholarship is better captured as theft/breach.
• § 18-4-501 Criminal Mischief — moving money is not "damage"; fold the ~$31,560 account loss into aggregation.
• § 18-5-401 Commercial Bribery — self-dealing, not third-party bribery; captured by theft and exploitation.
• § 18-4-409 Motor Vehicle Theft / § 18-4-411 Trafficking — fold vehicle values into the aggregated theft rather than charge standalone.

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6. TERESA JO IMHOF — SEPARATE AND JOINT CULPABILITY

The prior draft treated Teresa Imhof as background. She is not background. The documents place her at the center of the conduct that touched the at-risk victims directly, and she is a financial beneficiary of the scheme.

• Position of authority over Lewis Frenzl. Teresa held Power of Attorney / was named Personal Representative under Lewis's 2015 plan. From 2015 to 2023 she was positioned to know of — and to conceal — the commingling of JHF Trust assets with Lewis's affairs.
• Hands-on participation in the at-risk procurement. Karen Eskew's sworn testimony is that "Justin and Teresa came up one day" and that the couple was taken to find a notary to obtain Bill's signature [Karen Eskew Depo, Page 23 Lines 10–25]. Teresa was not a bystander; she was physically present in the act underlying Counts 1 and 3.
• Financial motive. Teresa is a 25% beneficiary of the operation; every dollar diverted from John's half toward the Imhof side enriched her.
• The easement conspiracy. Justin and Teresa jointly offered to split newly-acquired Logan County land back with the Eskews in a configuration that would have placed 100% of a potential ~$1.6 million wind-farm easement on the Imhof parcel rather than sharing it with all beneficiaries (Count 10).

Recommended treatment: Charge Teresa as a co-principal / complicitor (C.R.S. § 18-1-603) on Count 1 (Exploitation of an At-Risk Person) and Count 3 (Obtaining Signature by Deception), and as a co-conspirator on Count 10. Her concealment as POA/PR is also relevant context for the aggregated theft (Count 2).

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7. THE PATTERN — A SECOND FAMILY (LUEKING / BARTLETT)

This is what moves the case from "a family dispute" to a predatory practice, and it is the strongest argument that the conduct against the Eskews was knowing and intentional rather than negligent.

• Justin and Jamie Imhof recorded three backdated Lueking leases across two counties, each bearing the signature of Otto E. Lueking Jr., who was already deceased: a Logan County grassland lease (REC#769460, dated 7/2/2020, recorded 1/19/2024), and two Yuma County leases (REC#588805 irrigated and REC#588806 grassland, both dated 1/1/2021, recorded 1/17/2024). All three were recorded in the 48 hours bracketing the death of the Estate's Personal Representative, Iona Bartlett (died January 18, 2024, age 87) — the two Yuma leases the day before, the Logan lease the day after — three to four years after their stated dates.
• Two months after that purported 2020 lease date, Justin and Jamie purchased 320 acres (W½ Sec. 7, T9N, R48W) directly from the Lueking Estate for $212,550 (August 31, 2020).
• The 40-year Lueking lease sits inside the footprint of the Colorado Highlands Wind Farm — eight wind towers and a substation — and Justin wrote himself a first right of refusal to purchase that ground.
• The Lueking lease and the JHF Trust's 2017 lease share the same paragraph structure, the same formatting irregularities, and the same misspelling of the word "renewal." Independent professional witnesses (financial advisor Mark Hart; accountant Melanie Krening) testified to long-standing irregularities they did not know how to challenge while Justin operated behind Lewis Frenzl's title.

A single below-market lease is a bad deal. The same fingerprints on a second elderly estate — three dead-man's leases recorded as the only person who could object was dying — is a pattern — and pattern is what supports both aggregation (Count 2) and the inference of intent across every other count.

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8. ANTICIPATED DEFENSES AND REBUTTALS

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9. WHY THIS IS CRIMINAL, NOT MERELY A CIVIL DISPUTE

The civil trust matter settled in 2025 under an Executed Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release dated June 2, 2025 (the financial terms have not been finalized or paid). That fact will be raised to suggest the matter is closed. It is not, for three independent reasons:

1. A private civil release cannot extinguish criminal liability. Crimes are offenses against the State of Colorado. The beneficiaries had no power to release the People's interest, and did not purport to. The admitted theft, the forgery, and the exploitation of at-risk elders remain prosecutable regardless of any inter-party settlement.

1. Victims and interests outside the release. The Lewis & John Frenzl Scholarship Fund (a charitable beneficiary) and the Lueking family / Estate are not parties to the Eskew settlement. Conduct touching them is unaffected by it.

1. Criminal restitution is a separate and more enforceable remedy. A criminal conviction carries mandatory restitution (including interest on the withheld $442,676.55 and any further proven losses) that does not depend on, and is more readily enforced than, a civil judgment.

On the civil offense going forward (for the referrers' counsel): because a mutual release was executed, new civil claims between these parties are likely constrained except to the extent of (a) fraud in the inducement of the settlement or newly-discovered fraud, (b) claims belonging to non-released parties (the Scholarship Fund; other estates), and (c) restitution arising from the criminal case. The principal live vehicle is therefore the criminal referral, with the civil pattern (Lueking) supporting referral to the Colorado Attorney General's elder-exploitation jurisdiction and potential action by or on behalf of other victims. (Flagged for attorney confirmation against the executed release's exact language.)

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10. EVIDENCE INDEX (APPENDICES A–H AND SUPPLEMENTAL EXHIBITS)

The following evidence set accompanies this referral (the same exhibit set assembled in the October 2025 submission, plus supplemental items). Items marked [OBTAIN] are records the Sheriff's Office is in the best position to compel.

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11. REQUEST FOR ACTION AND NOTICE

To the investigating law enforcement agency:

The referrers respectfully request that the investigating agency:

1. Open a criminal investigation into Justin Wayne Imhof and Teresa Jo Imhof on the counts set out in Section 4;
2. Compel the bank and county records identified as [OBTAIN] in Section 10 — records that private citizens cannot subpoena but which will independently confirm the admitted $442,676.55, the pre-death trustee designation, and the backdated Lueking recording;
3. Make the verbal referral to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation that CBI has indicated it requires from a law enforcement agency to engage; and
4. Forward the matter to the District Attorney for the judicial district of venue and, given the elder-exploitation dimension, to the Colorado Attorney General's Special Prosecutions Section (concurrent jurisdiction, C.R.S. § 24-31-101).

This referral has been narrowed, corrected, and verified precisely so that it can be acted upon. The central fact — a $442,676.55 misappropriation admitted in writing by the suspect's own attorney, against a backdrop of forged instruments, deceived at-risk elders, and a backdated lease recorded the day after a second estate's representative died — is not in genuine dispute.

The Eskew family has pursued lawful channels — a voluntary statement to the Washington County Sheriff's Office (November 4, 2024), the civil proceeding, and direct cooperation — for well over a year. If, after genuine investigation, law enforcement determines that no crime occurred, the family will accept that determination. What the family will not accept is continued inaction without investigation. Should the matter not be investigated, the family intends to pursue every remaining lawful avenue, including making the documented record available to the public and the press, so that the community and future at-risk Coloradans understand how this was allowed to happen. That is a statement of intent to seek accountability through lawful means — not a threat.

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12. CONTACT INFORMATION

Landon E. Eskew President, Highline Water, LLC Managing Member — Eskew Global Holdings Group, LLC; Highline Property Management, LLC; Borderline Performance & Repair, LLC (970) 370-1798 | landon@highlinewater.com

Devin A. Eskew Sole Proprietor, Mountain States Infrastructure, LLC (719) 757-5244 | devin@ms-infrastructure.com

Prepared by Landon Eskew and Devin Eskew, beneficiaries of the John H. Frenzl Trust. Submitted to law enforcement for criminal investigation and referral.

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