What's next for raided, neglected Schaumburg home?

A Schaumburg house that's seen plenty of action in recent years has seamlessly transitioned into a hotbed of neglect.

In 2005, the then-distinguished gray house at 236 Monson Court was raided by U.S. marshals, who believed it to be the base of an unlicensed, international money-transmitting business.

But with owner Praful Chheda now a fugitive from the law, the house he posted as bond has become a neighborhood eyesore since being foreclosed and changing hands several times.

"People who live here are tired of the inactivity and the constant passing of the buck from one entity to another," said village Trustee George Dunham, a resident of the subdivision.

In the past year particularly, the empty house endured the destructive storm of August 2007 as well as four subsequent seasons of neglect.

The house at the entrance to Schaumburg's Lexington Fields South subdivision off Meacham Road still has a bright blue tarp covering its damaged, leaking roof.

The backyard fence remains in pieces, some of them stacked against the back wall of the house.

An inspection sticker between the weathered family nameplate and the cobweb-covered outdoor grill on the front porch attests to the interior's uninhabitable state and flooded basement. Pipes that burst during last winter's deep freeze punched holes in the interior walls, neighbors said.

The home's only remaining residents confine themselves to a wasp nest over the garage.

Though the lawn and bushes around the house are a little ragged and rife with weeds, they have a neighbor and the village to thank for being in as good a condition as they are.

Roseanne Caboor, president of the Lexington Fields South Homeowners Association, said she and her kids tried to make a fun pastime out of picking the weeds out of the house's lawn, but are wearying of that responsibility.

"We seem to have the village on speed dial whenever the grass and weeds reach our knees," she said.

The state of the landscaping has been the most clear-cut violation of village codes - and the easiest to address. "We had issues with the grass and the weeds," confirmed Schaumburg's Economic Development Coordinator Matt Frank, adding that the village has struggled to keep up with the shifting corporate ownership of the house over the past two years.

"Our big thing is it just needs to look nice," Caboor said, explaining that it's the exterior of the house causing the most concern for neighbors because of the effect it could have on their property values.

The house was seized by federal marshals two years ago, Frank said. This had followed the earlier raid to find criminal evidence.

Chheda is now believed to be back in India, though his wife remains in the area.

Chheda and two Chicago men, Vasant Kumar Patel of 4830 N. Springfield Ave. and Jasvant B. Zaveri of 4926 Springfield Ave., were charged in 2005 with operating an unlicensed business that transferred money to its clients' relatives in India, via illegitimate businesses in Hong Kong.

From no later than October 2003 until May 2005, the business is believed to have transferred more than $25 million to Hong Kong bank accounts from local accounts controlled by Chheda, according to U.S. District Court officials.

Chheda reportedly told authorities his business charged clients roughly one-half of 1 percent to send their money to relatives in India, but instead of sending the money directly, it was funneled through several Hong Kong-based businesses, according to Chheda's statements in the complaint.

Chheda also said these businesses' real purpose was to smuggle consumer goods into India, authorities said.

Chheda's business partners, Patel and Zaveri, reached an agreement with the courts to defer prosecution for two years and have their next status hearing on June 17, 2009.

As for the house Chheda left behind, things are promising to change for the better, said Frank, the village's economic development coordinator.

After a constant string of hard-to-follow property transfers, the house is now squarely in the possession of Texas-based Countrywide Insurance. Company officials were unable to provide any information about the house or explain why it would have changed ownership several times before landing in their hands.

Though an out-of-state corporate owner is not the best of situations, the village at least now knows whom it's dealing with and how to reach the owner, Frank said.

Repairs to the house to make it both habitable and marketable are expected to occur in the fall, he added.

With luck, when the first snowflakes of the year appear, they'll be settling on a solid, weatherproof roof once again.