Ex-Centennial basketball coach and homebuilder pleads guilty in case involving customer

This story was updated Wednesday, Aug. 7, to include that the homebuying couple has sued the homebuilder and that a trial date has been set in that lawsuit.

An Eagle-based homebuilder and former head coach of girls basketball at Centennial High School in Boise pleaded guilty Tuesday to a criminal forgery charge.

Kerry Angelos, 61, said in Ada County District Court that he signed a purchase and sale agreement in March 2022 on behalf of two Eagle residents without their knowledge to obtain a construction loan to build a home in Eagle.

Judge Cynthia Yee-Wallace ordered Angelos to pay $400,000 in restitution to Jay and Julene Quinlan as part of a plea deal where Angelos would avoid prison time but serve five years of probation.

The Quinlans told the Idaho Statesman that they were neighbors with Angelos for years when they struck a deal with him in 2020 to build their dream home on a nearby half-acre lot at 863 N. Nolina Ave. in Eagle. They sold their previous home to buy the lot and to finance the new home. But the house was never completed.

The Quinlans said they had signed a purchase and sale agreement with Angelos’ company, North Star Homes, and wired him $400,000 to build it in July 2021. They allege that Angelos forged their signatures on a separate contract nearly a year later that did not list the Quinlans on the deed to the home or reflect the correct amount of earnest money.

Angelos said in court that the Quinlans had no knowledge of the forged agreement and had not given him permission to sign it for them.

“He took our money knowingly and then filled out false loan documents to benefit himself,” Jay Quinlan told the Statesman after the hearing. “We’ve been out of a home for three years. “I just don’t want this to happen to any other family.”

Angelos was a first-year girls basketball head coach at Centennial High School for the 2022-23 season but was replaced in April. A spokesperson for the West Ada School District said by email Wednesday that Angelos is no longer employed by the district.

His sentencing is set for 9 am Oct. 15. His attorney, Michael Bartlett, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Couple sues Angelos, businesses. Trial set

The Quinlans are suing Angelos and North Star Homes in a separate case that’s set to go to trial Sept. 4. Other defendants in the civil case include Meridian Indemnity, a lender; Empire Title, a Treasure Valley title and escrow company; and Sierra Valley Painting, a painting business based in Nampa.

Jay Quinlan said that Angelos obtained a certificate of occupancy in fall 2023 that allowed him to finally sell the home to the Quinlans for $1.4 million.

But as they were about to close on the house, Jay Quinlan said, the title company learned that there was a lien on the property from an unpaid contractor, so it could not issue a clear title guaranteeing that no one else had an ownership claim on the property.

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