Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Ashley Madison customers revealed: John Vawter, founder of Capstone Collegiate Communities in Birmingham, appears at cheaters' Web site


John and Susan Vawter
(From facebook.com)
A founding principal of a Birmingham-based student-housing company is a paying customer at the Ashley Madison extramarital-affair Web site, records show.

John Vawter, who helped found Capstone Collegiate Communities, has more than 28 years of experience in student-housing development. The company specializes in the development, construction and management of off-campus student housing near major colleges and universities across the country.

The company started as Capstone Development, which over 23 years, developed 131 communities in 33 states. A restructuring in January 2012 produced Capstone Collegiate Communities, with Vawter joining Rob Howland and Ben Walker as principals.

From Vawter's bio at the Capstone Web site:

John is one of the founding members of Capstone, with over 28 years’ experience in student housing development. He began his career at Capstone in residential site acquisitions and transitioned to overall development. In 2000, John focused his efforts on opportunities west of the Rocky Mountains, managing the opening and operations of Capstone’s West Coast regional office in Encinitas, California. In 2004, he moved back to Capstone’s headquarters in Birmingham to lead Capstone’s Off-Campus Development Division. In 2009, he also took over leadership of Cottage Builder’s, Inc. In January 2012, following the restructuring of The Capstone Companies, John Vawter became one of the three principals of Capstone Collegiate Communities, LLC.

Vawter is married to Susan M. Vawter, and they live in Vestavia Hills, in a house that is valued at almost $800,000 on Kings Mountain Road. Here is a link to Susan Vawter's Facebook page,
where she is listed as a certified yoga instructor at YMCA of Birmingham. She also is listed as a former designer at Ford Motor Company, although it's hard to tell if that is meant to be taken seriously or not.

Susan Vawter, however, does appear to take her right-wing political views seriously. From a September 22, 2016, post at her Facebook page:

I have shared before, however, worth sharing again given the past few days and the rhetoric surrounding them...read and understand this is Hillary and Barack's agenda. If you want this country to become Venezuela, cue pictures of people diving for the last bags of rice on a grocery shelf, than (sic) be my guest and vote for Hillary or write in Bernie. But then really come to terms w the phrase, "useful idiot." Your welcome, signed, "deplorable"

How ironic is it for Susan Vawter to be such a right winger when her husband makes a cozy living off public universities. Perhaps she is just out of touch with reality, unaware that her husband has been using one of the Web's most notorious sites, one designed specifically for generating extramarital affairs.

We sought comment from John Vawter for this post, but he has not responded to our query.

Previously:

(1) Edgar C. Gentle III -- attorney at Gentle Turner Sexton and Harbison, Birmingham, AL (3/8/16)

(2) Stewart Springer -- attorney, solo practice in Birmingham, AL. (3/9/16)

(3) Richard W. "Dick" Bell -- attorney, solo practice in Birmingham, AL (3/14/16)

(4) Robert M.N. Palmer -- attorney and bar association president in Springfield, MO (3/15/16)

(5) Thomas Plouff -- attorney, who is licensed in Alabama and has a practice in Chicago (3/17/16)

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, goody. More Ashley Madison stuff. Makes me feel like it's Christmas morning.

Anonymous said...

He's cheating on her? Something ain't right here.

legalschnauzer said...

Just a reminder, @9:16, the post doesn't say that Mr. Vawter cheated on anyone. It does say that his name appears as a paying customer at Ashley Madison, which has a single purpose to facilitate extramarital affairs, so that suggests he has tried to cheat on someone.

Anonymous said...

Just a guess, but I'm betting this isn't wife No. 1. Looks like Trophy Wife No. 1, 2, or 3.

Anonymous said...

Is Mr. Vawter Birmingham's version of Ted Rollins? I've lived here a long time and never heard of Capstone Collegiate Communities.

legalschnauzer said...

I think you could say Vawter is Birmingham's Ted Rollins, although I see no evidence that Vawter cheats people in court the way Rollins does. Also, I suspect Capstone actually is competent at what it does, where evidence strongly suggests Campus Crest Communities (CCG) was not. Given Rollins' ties to Birmingham, it's possible he stole the idea for CCG from Capstone. Biggest difference between companies, I think, is that CCG is public and Capstone (I believe) is privately held.

Not sure CCG still exists, given that Rollins left it in an utter mess. I believe it was acquired by a Chicago outfit called Harrison Street Holdings (or something like that), and I'm not sure the Campus Crest name is used at this point. Rollins turned it into a toxic brand, so the name might not have much value now.

Anonymous said...

Honestly, this is just old-news rubbish. Nobody cares about Ashley Madison anymore. Your blogs about current events or situations that have touched you personally are so much more interesting. If you're going back to this crap, I'm finished.

legalschnauzer said...

You are wrong about the level of interest in the Ashley Madison story, @10:11, and I have evidence to prove it. By old news, I assume you mean news that has been reported before. Where have you seen stories such as mine published before? On top of that, nationwide litigation on the subject is ongoing, so it's hardly old news. Finally, you failed to ID yourself, so I never knew you were started in the first place. Therefore, your declaration that "I'm finished" doesn't mean squat to me. Good luck in your reading pursuits. Plenty of other blogs to choose from.

Anonymous said...

I wondered when one of the "Nervous Nellies" would show up. Didn't take long. No doubt in my mind that the Nellies are people who are on Ashley Madison or know someone who is listed on the site. Their interest is self-preservation, which they should have thought about before signing up.

Anonymous said...

Is the Edward Snowden story old news? No. Is the Julian Assange story old news? Of course not. Both are much older than the Ashley Madison story, and all three involve hacked or released data with international implications. Baloney, @10:11, pure baloney.

Anonymous said...

I think this post would be more interesting if we knew how much he spent. Do you have that information?

Robby Scott Hill said...

I appreciate my conservative friend's viewpoints, but Venezuela's problems began only after the loss of Comrade Chavez's leadership & sabotage by American bankers & businessmen. While Hugo was alive, poor people were getting good jobs, going to school & receving top rate medical care in Cuba & Russia as well as Venezuela. Many Venezuelans enjoyed a higher standard of living than many Alabamians under Chavez. I love this blog. It's like a chronicle of a modern day War of the Roses. Powerful people getting divorced, poor people marrying divorced wealth & creating new power structures. I wonder how long it will be before a 21st Century Owen Tudor marries the dowager Queen, produces an heir & the last Plantagenet King dies on the field of battle so my family can once again become legal counsel for the new Royals? If you study the victory of Henry VII at Bosworth Field, the first divorce of Henry VIII, his subsequent marriage to Anne Bolyenn & the rise of Elizabeth I, you'll find my ancestors' hands all over it & it's time for Alabama to get some new Royalty. Let the games begin!

legalschnauzer said...

I have access to that information, but it takes a while to retrieve it, given the massive amount of data involved. Hope to have the Vawter account details before too long, along with details for others we've written about in recent months -- and plan to write about in the coming months.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps he found the fetching Ms. Vawter at AM. If so, he's one of the few to find anything there.

Anonymous said...

Any follow up on the governor's son in law? Did Minda divorce him finally?

legalschnauzer said...

I don't have any info about that, @3:52, but you raise a good question. My access to Alabama court records is limited at the moment. The Rileys probably don't have much of a moral high ground to stand on when it comes to fidelity, so Rob Campbell probably will just get some sort of intramural shaming. Can only imagine how much dirt he has on that sleazy bunch.

Anonymous said...

Knowing John on a personal and business level I am taken back by this. Could this be the case a certain minister at an Alabaster Baptist church claimed when he was caught on the Ashley Madison site? He claimed someone he was helping stole his information and signed up to the site under hus name and information. Which I highly doubt. And seeing this minister also works for the Social Security Administration as a manager in Birmingham one wonders if the Feds know about his potential risk for leaking information? You might want to look into this. Last name is Brown.

legalschnauzer said...

I gave Mr. Vawter every opportunity to comment on, or explain, his situation. He never responded to queries. I'm not familiar with the Alabaster Baptist Church case. Do you know the first name on last name Brown?

Anonymous said...

Yes. He also is a manager for Social Security Administration in Birmingham and privy to confidential information which makes one worry since he was part of the Ashley Madison leak. The church is Community Baptist and his name is James C. "Bo" Brown. Wife and 4 kids. The big thing is I douth SSA knows about this due to him still having access to confidential information.