Sandpoint homeowners federal racketeering case ends in dismissal
A federal racketeering lawsuit filed last year by some of the homeowners of a development outside of Sandpoint has ended in dismissal.
The ruling earlier this month by U.S. District Court Judge Amanda Brailsford of Idaho is the latest legal decision regarding the Mountain Homestead subdivision just north of Ponderay that was the brainchild of Jacob Marble and Joshua Pilch, who worked for Bonner County at the time he and Marble carved the 41.6 acres into lots in 2019.
Some of the persons who bought or built homes on the ground, a portion of which had been declared a federal wetlands, complained about water that was contaminated with E-coli bacteria, a faulty-community septic system and a road that apparently gave them no legal right to access their properties, according to court records.
After what they said was a yearslong struggle to obtain records from Bonner County, the homeowners filed a civil lawsuit under the Racketeer Influenced or Corrupt Organization Act, or RICO. Such actions are most often used by prosecutors who are seeking criminal indictments against organized-crime suspects.
The suit targeted Pilch, who at the time worked as a Bonner County planning official, and Marble, who later served as chairman of the Bonner County Zoning Commission. The suit also named Bonner County elected and appointed officials, the Panhandle Health District, realtors, builders and others who all were involved with either building or approving Mountain Homestead.
The suit argued that all 33 defendants "conspired to defraud them into purchasing defective properties," according to court records.
But it was the lawsuit's sprawling size that apparently helped its undoing. Judge Brailsford wrote that the homeowners failed to establish several facets of the law that were needed to show a grand conspiracy among all the 33 actors named in the suit.
"In summary, plaintiffs have not plausibly alleged the existence of a distinct enterprise; they have not alleged any predicate acts with sufficient particularity ... and as a result, they have not alleged a pattern of racketeering activity," she wrote in part.
An attorney representing the homeowners from the Mountain Homestead subdivision, Boise-based Jason Mau, noted that Brailsford did not rule on a companion state case and that his clients are currently weighing their options on how to proceed.
"Our clients have been speaking with us. They're just weighing their options on the next steps," Mau said. As for the companion lawsuit filed in Idaho state court, "we'll probably come to a decision within the next two to three weeks."
Cody Telford, a neighbor of the plaintiffs who was also named in the federal RICO case as a defendant, wrote in an email that the legal fight has made it difficult for him to sell his home in the development.
"We shouldn't let people use the court system to spread lies about and damage the reputation of a lot of people in small towns," Telford wrote in an email. "Having intimate knowledge of all of the dealings, this was a complex money grab scheme by the plaintiffs."
The problems
The suit listed a litany of problems at Mountain Homestead with dirty and contaminated water, yearly flooding and a septic system that never got state approval, according to the suit.
Pilch, one of the original developers, continues to work in Sandpoint. He resigned in January 2023 from the Bonner County Planning Commission. In an interview on Tuesday, Pilch blamed just a couple of the homeowners at Mountain Homestead.
"It's never been about solving a problem or there being a problem," Pilch said. "It's all about allegations and legal nonsense. I'm frustrated with the whole situation. I'm glad that the judge saw through the nonsense and threw it out."
He noted that several homeowners seem happy with their homes in the development.
"This certainly hasn't done anything for my reputation," Pilch said. "But I built it on doing good work and fixing it if something happens. This lawsuit didn't have anything to do with that. It's all accusations. It's cost a lot of people a lot of money to go through this nonsense."
Marble, a computer software engineer, said the development was mostly a side gig for him.
He said the Panhandle Health District signed off on the project or he wouldn't have been able to get final permits on the one speculation home he built there. But he did not want to say more about the merits of the case.
"I think the lawsuit speaks for itself," Marble said. "I don't think this is behind us at all."
One of the homeowners who filed the suit, Lee Wilson, did not return a call seeking comment, and another, Linda Wittwer, referred questions to Mau, the attorney.
But in the end, Brailsford ruled that the lawsuit failed to stand as a racketeering case because it failed to show how the 33 named defendants worked as a cohesive "enterprise."
"Plaintiffs merely allege defendants are associated, if at all, in a manner directly related to their own business activities," Brailsford wrote. "Even assuming each defendant's purported conduct was fraudulent, that is insufficient to state a RICO claim."
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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 7:09 PM.