Gabe Montoya Montoya LLC building new home scam

In Aug of 2023 Gabe Montoya approached me (David Apps) asked me if I would be interested in building a spec house with him on a lot in Orland park  on the corner of east 88th Ave and north of Beverly LN. He said his friend Dewayne owned the lot but had agreed to sell it to him. I said I was interested and we setup a day to go look at the lot.

I met Gabe and Dewayne at the lot in Aug of 2023. At this time Dewayne agreed to sell us the lot for $115,000.00.

A few days later I asked Gabe about setting up a time to close on the lot he said he had already given Dewayne a check for the lot and we were ready to start planning out the build. He said he needed checks from me for the following:

  • A lawyer to create an LLC for our new company- $4500.00
  • Plans for the house -$3000.00.
  • Building Insurance -$1400.00.
  • Engineering -$700.00

I asked Gabe if he wanted me to give half of the lot money. He said no I could cover the build costs for now. I gave Gabe a check for $7500.00 Check #3510 on 9/13/2023.

A few weeks later he showed me some plans for the house and said he was going to pull a permit.

At this time we asked Ray if he would be interested in building the house with us.

I continued to follow up with Gabe on when we could break ground. Continually told me he was having a hard time getting the permit to build from Village.

On 11/16/2023 he said he needed another $15000.00 for construction costs. I gave him a check for $15000.00.

On Nov 16 2023 I met Gabe for dinner at The Office Restaurant in Crestwood on rt 83. At this time Gabe told me that Dewayne had a Father and Daughter that wanted to build houses next to each other and that he was going to sell the lot back to Dewayne at a $40,000 profit. He said he had another lot in Oak Forest he owned that we could build on. I told him I was not interested in building anything is Oak Forest and that I wanted my money back.

This start with Gabe writing me checks every few months telling me not to cash them until the next week. Then calling and telling me he would replace that check with a new one. Or in the case I was able to deposit it the checks almost always bounced.