KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Wakubenga Mufanyonge is discouraged. She thought by now the Jackson County prosecutor’s office would have filed charges against the three men who she has accused of stealing $30,000 from her family nearly two years ago in real estate scam.
“I had a lot of hopes,” said Mufanyonge, speaking in her native Swahili through a family friend and interpreter Peter Makori.
But now she fears that justice will never prevail.
“I think the prosecutor is just kind of ignoring the case because I’m just a refugee and they don’t care,” she said
Mufanyonge and her family escaped from the war-torn Congo to make a new life in Kansas City.
With both parents and older children working, the family had been able to save $30,000 and was hoping to use it as a down payment on a home. Instead, they became the victims of a real estate scam – something Kansas City is earning a reputation for.
The family told police it handed more than $30,000 for a house on E. 69th Terrace to three men, only to later learn the house didn’t belong to the men and wasn’t for sale.
According to a police report, one of the three men accused of taking the money was Miles Wesley Thomas, who has a criminal history of real estate fraud, burglary and forgery and has appeared in multiple FOX4 Problem Solver investigations.
The Mufanyonge family has a receipt signed by a Wesley Thomas that it provided to place and is willing to testify against him in court.
The police report showed the family identified the other two men as Papi Kasindi and Sanchez Williams.
After Problem Solvers got involved, police brought all three men in for questioning. Police then sent their report to the Jackson County prosecutor’s office. Where it has sat for months.
A high-placed source told Problem Solvers that the prosecutor’s office wasn’t interested in the case – unless the entire transaction had been captured on camera, something that would be unlikely to ever happen.
However, Mike Mansur, a spokesman for the Jackson County prosecutor, denied the case was dead. He said the lead prosecutor had simply asked for important additional information – although he would not tell Problem Solvers what type of new information had been requested. Mansur said the prosecutor hoped to determine whether to pursue criminal charges this week.
Problem Solvers will let you know what happens.
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