TOPPENISH -- Paul Rogers can hardly talk about his grandmother without thinking about how she may have been ripped off.

Paul described his grandmother, Martha Rogers, as a savvy business woman. She and her husband moved to Toppenish in the fifties.

"They had a grocery store, a meat locker, and then they went into the real estate business in I believe, 1968," Paul said.

Rogers Realty grew into a success, and because of her real estate knowledge, Paul finds it hard to believe his grandmother knowingly allowed someone else to profit off her investments.

Paul's grandparents had four children. Paul said when his grandfather died his Uncle Bill Rogers took his place at Rogers Realty.

When Martha retired, she trusted her son to look after her properties, and gave him power of attorney.

"By that time he had already emptied all her accounts," Paul said.

He alleges that power of attorney became his uncle's power trip.

Paul is now suing his uncle Bill, accusing him of masterminding the plan to take his mother's properties and money and leave nothing for the relatives listed on Martha's will.

That case went to court last fall, while Rogers was still mayor.

Steve Trefts was hired by the court to look into the allegations made against Rogers. Trefts was named a neutral attorney and was put on the case to represent neither party.

Months later, Trefts is still digging, and couldn't tell Action News what he's found.

"It's in the court record and you'll need to look at it there," Trefts said.

So KIMA did.

Among the allegations filed in Yakima superior court, Paul and his relatives claim Bill Rogers helped his mother sell a Toppenish building in 2002 to a buyer named Toppenish Office Suites.

Martha made more than $200,000 off the sale, according to court records.

But Paul discovered the building was re-sold the very same day.

This time, the buyer was the Toppenish school district.

As the seller, Toppenish Office Suites made nearly $500,000 in profit.

This was no simple flip.

There's only one name on the business license for Toppenish Office Suites, but court records show that woman admits creating the business with her friend: Bill Rogers.

Court papers allege Martha didn't know when she was selling the building to Toppenish Office Suites she was actually selling it to her own son, and that she had no idea he'd flip it that same day for twice the cash.

The owner of Toppenish Office Suites argues Martha knew full well and even agreed she and Rogers could pocket the profit from the sale to the school district, which brings us back to nephew Paul Rogers.

He asks, if Uncle Bill knew how much money he could ultimately make on the sale, then why get a friend involved to split the profit?

Why not just sell it directly to the school district?

"It's obvious he wasn't acting in her best interest," Paul said.

To make matters worse, court documents say the money made from that first sale to Toppenish Office Suites is "missing."

"He didn't expect me, he didn't expect me to find the things
that I found," said Paul.

Martha didn't know or didn't care about the allegations or just didn't have time before her death to look into what Paul found.

Court records show months before she died, Martha canceled her son's power of attorney, but kept him on her will and kept properties in
bill's name.

Also in court documents, Rogers claims he even shared bank accounts
with his mother until she died.

KIMA wanted to talk to Rogers or his attorney, but both declined an
interview with Action News. KIMA called Rogers' attorney one last time the day this story aired, but he did not return the call.

Last time Action News saw Rogers in court, he walked away from us.

"Hopefully we'll come to an agreement that will be just and fair
to all the parties and they'll see that and we won't have to be in
court," said Trefts, adding that the investigation is halfway done and may not be resolved for months.

Until then, the case is pitting one man against another.

Paul claims at the height of his grandmother's career she once told him she was a millionaire. When she died, Paul claims she was "completely broke."

"If he could do that to his own mother, he could do that to
anybody," Paul said.