Philip Breen

[ididn'tdoit]

I was just watching the Phillip Breen segment. For those of you who don't remember he was a mortgage broker who embezzled about ten million dollars by giving loans to fictitious companies. He later chose to disappear leaving his wife (who later got a divorce), with all his debts forcing her to sell her house, their cars etc, leaving her both financially and emotionally ruined.

Was there ever an update to this case? Was Phillip Breen ever caught?

[Todd Mueller]

I don't think there ever was an update. I looked on Google but couldn't find anything.

[wiseguy182]

not sure how old my copy is, but there was not an update on it.

[unsolvedmysteriesfan]

Found two articles from around that time about the team (Orlando Juice) and his company (Group One Mortgage Corp. in Southfield, Mich.). The company is still running but under different leadership. I guess they would be the ones who would know if he was ever found.

My guess from Google and no articles in Newspaper archives is that he is eluding, perhaps like Stack said in the Carribean.

[everybodylovesrs]

How on earth is he still able to hide?????

[Mastermind]

How on earth is he still able to hide?????

1.Phillip escaped once before in his previous identity to become Phillip Breen. If he did it once, he could probably do it again. He may be trying the exact same fraud scheme under a new identity

2. Phillip proabably had his exit strategy planned from the moment he ment he met his wife. Probably had tons of cash in safe places and a hideout all set once the

3. Phil may have commited suicide or being killed by a swindle victim. For all we know his body is a John Doe, waiting to be revealed.

[MissFit29]

Originally Posted by Mastermind

1.Phillip escaped once before in his previous identity to become Phillip Breen. If he did it once, he could probably do it again. He may be trying the exact same fraud scheme under a new identity

2. Phillip proabably had his exit strategy planned from the moment he ment he met his wife. Probably had tons of cash in safe places and a hideout all set once the

3. Phil may have commited suicide or being killed by a swindle victim. For all we know his body is a John Doe, waiting to be revealed.

I agree with 1 and 2. He made his living as a con man.
I don't think he committed suicide. Pete Ballard's quote about Dan Tondevold fits here too. Breen wouldn't have gone through the trouble of getting the money just to kill himself.

[crystaldawn]

I've always been dying to know if he was ever caught. I haven't been able to find out a thing about him online. Not sure if Spike ever aired this, but they've been good about updating the cases. Thats probably our best bet to find out if he was ever captured.

[MissFit29]

Was "Phillip Breen" an alias? Maybe he had a different birth name and he's been arrested under that name. One can always hope!

[Mastermind]

Was "Phillip Breen" an alias? Maybe he had a different birth name and he's been arrested under that name. One can always hope!

I never quite undertood if it was. The segment does mention that he was arrested under a different name previously for another fraud scame. Phillip "something"

I was always under the impression that "Phillip Breen" was an alias. Anyone can verify that?

[everybodylovesrs]

JUICE OWNER SOUGHT FBI, IRS SEEKING MISSING BREEN
THE ORLANDO SENTINEL - Wednesday, January 24, 1990

Phillip Breen , owner of the Orlando Juice of the Senior Professional Baseball Association, is being sought by the FBI and the IRS, both of whom sent investigators by the Juice's office Tuesday morning.

Faced with an FBI investigation for criminal activity, a $10 million lawsuit and a divorce from his wife, Kathleen, Breen left his home in Beverly Hills, Mich., several weeks ago and hasn't been seen since.

Orlando Juice General Manager Wynn Dillard said Tuesday that he last talked to Breen, 43, on Jan. 7.

''I called to tell him I had traded Bill Madlock and Roy Branch for Vida Blue,'' Dillard said Tuesday. ''He said he didn't like the deal. We didn't talk much longer. And I haven't heard from him since.''

Dillard and others in the Juice's front office said Breen made a 10-minute visit to the Juice's office in December, his only appearance all season in Orlando. ''Some of us might not know him if he walked in here today,'' one employee said.

The Juice, who have averaged only 351 paying customers per home date, will play six of their final seven regular-season games at Tinker Field as they seek to make the league playoffs.

''Everyone has been paid and will be paid another check on Feb. 1,'' Dillard said.

Breen's problems surfaced Jan. 9 when he was sued by Douglas Hardy, chairman of Group One Mortgage Corp. in Southfield, Mich. Breen was the president. It was about that time that his wife reported him missing to police in Beverly Hills, Mich. There is no warrant for Breen's arrest.

According to Group One attorney Thomas Hardy, Breen allegedly siphoned money from Group One into two dummy corporations under the pretense of reselling home loans.

While living in Lauderhill in 1978, Breen was sentenced to nine months in jail for ''embezzlement by bank employee - created a ficticious mortgage,'' according to federal court records. Details of the case were not available because the court file is in archives in Atlanta.

Dillard said he went to Port St. Lucie and talked to the players about Breen after a game on Jan. 14.

''I told them about Phil Breen, and I gave them their paychecks two days ahead of time,'' Dillard said. ''We pay them twice a month - on the 1st and 16th.''

League President Rick Horrow said Tuesday he is confident the Juice will be able to meet their last payroll.

''The players will be paid,'' he said. ''I understand the money is there. And even if there was a problem, we have a league reserve fund that would pay them. We took that measure before the season began - before we had any notion one of our owners might vanish.''

League founder Jim Morley told the Fort Lauderdale News & Sun-Sentinel, ''We have too much money invested in this thing to let one guy sink the ship.''

John Christison, director of Orlando's Centroplex, which includes Tinker Field, said the team pays $500 per game, and its account with the city is current. ''It was pre-paid,'' Dillard said.

Juice officials said the status of the team for the 1990-91 season is unclear and will depend largely on what happens to Breen.

Morley was unavailable for comment Tuesday, but he told The St. Petersburg Times that Breen was an attractive owner because most of his net worth of $5 million was liquid.

''If we had started this league next year, like we wanted, maybe Phil wouldn't have been a part of it,'' Morley said. ''But we needed to get started, and he looked good.''

The Juice, beaten, 8-4, Tuesday in Bradenton by the Bradenton Explorers, play there again today at 1:05.

Off Thursday, the Juice begin a weekend home series with the St. Petersburg Pelicans at 7:05 Friday night at Tinker Field.

[PurpleCloverMI]

Don't believe everything you hear on television. Unsolved Mysteries pays people so they have something to air, so you only get partial information.

1) Phillip Breen was NOT an alias. I should know, I am his daughter. The reason I am not mentioned in the program is because my stepmother didn't like me (or the rest of his family) much, so she did not include me, my mother, his 7 brothers, or his parents in the story.

2) No, he was never caught. However, because he has been missing more than 7 years, he is legally declared dead. I doubt anyone is still looking for him.

3) He did not have his exit strategy planned from the beginning. The only reason he did any of it was because he thought he could get away with it.

4) He is not a physical threat to anyone, he was never violent, ever, in his life.

5) Chances are that he is dead, but not from suicide, probably from cirrhosis of the liver (he was a BIG drinker, but very alert while drunk - very weird)

[crystaldawn]

Originally Posted by PurpleCloverMI

Don't believe everything you hear on television. Unsolved Mysteries pays people so they have something to air, so you only get partial information.

1) Phillip Breen was NOT an alias. I should know, I am his daughter. The reason I am not mentioned in the program is because my stepmother didn't like me (or the rest of his family) much, so she did not include me, my mother, his 7 brothers, or his parents in the story.

2) No, he was never caught. However, because he has been missing more than 7 years, he is legally declared dead. I doubt anyone is still looking for him.

3) He did not have his exit strategy planned from the beginning. The only reason he did any of it was because he thought he could get away with it.

4) He is not a physical threat to anyone, he was never violent, ever, in his life.

5) Chances are that he is dead, but not from suicide, probably from cirrhosis of the liver (he was a BIG drinker, but very alert while drunk - very weird)

Thanks so much for posting and setting some things straight. I'm sorry for you that he was never found. Is there anything on the UM segment that was incorrect you'd like to correct?

[PurpleCloverMI]

I don't think there's anything to correct. I haven't seen the episode in awhile though. I don't think anything said was wrong, Kathleen just left a lot out.

[Mastermind]

3) He did not have his exit strategy planned from the beginning. The only reason he did any of it was because he thought he could get away with it.

How do you know this information? What age were you at the time Phillip Breen's fraud activity was revealed?

4) He is not a physical threat to anyone, he was never violent, ever, in his life.

Probably not, he was more interested in using his brain than brawn to commit crimes.

He was a thinking man, most likely.

5) Chances are that he is dead, but not from suicide, probably from cirrhosis of the liver (he was a BIG drinker, but very alert while drunk - very weird)

Impossible to verify whether he is dead or not.