BRADENTON - At the end of the first quarter, Freedom Bank was already one of the most troubled lenders in the region. The Bradenton-based community bank reported $19.9 million in non-current loans, representing 8.3 percent of its loan portfolio.

Freedom Bank has suffered from the real estate downtown and its founder's aggressive growth strategy.

Since March 31, Freedom's problems have mushroomed. Court records show it has foreclosed on 10 loans in the past three months totaling $18.9 million, which means that as much as 15 percent of its loan portfolio is now impaired.

Spawned in 2005 by veteran banker Gerry Anthony, Freedom Bank is a victim of the real estate downturn and Anthony's aggressive growth strategy. In just three years, Freedom grew to become the largest community bank in Manatee County with $290 million in assets, and the sixth-largest community bank in the three-county region.

But rapid growth came at the expense of making quality loans. The upshot is that 22 of Freedom's customers have defaulted on $37.1 million in loans since September 2006.

Four of those who defaulted were multifamily housing developers. Two were condominium converters. Three were single-family home developers. Three were home builders and one was a group of investors who speculated in buying and rehabbing bank branches. The rest were either homeowners or speculators who got in over their heads during the boom.

Freedom's recently appointed chief executive, David Zuern, said in an e-mail message that it was bank policy to "not provide any information regarding customer relationships to outside parties and does not confirm or deny the existence of any customer relationship." But Zuern added that Freedom is working with all its customers to bring any non-performing loans back to performing status.

"We have thoroughly analyzed our portfolio and we are following a systematic procedure to salvage loan relationships where we can; accept deeds in lieu of foreclosure where we must; or, if no other options exist, proceed to foreclosure and salvage the value of the underlying collateral as quickly and efficiently as possible," said Zuern, who headed a number of Pennsylvania banks before joining Freedom in April and was formerly secretary of banking for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. "Our goal is to put problem issues behind us, shore up the capital base of the bank and move forward."

Like other banks in the region, court records show that a portion of Freedom's problems stem from lending to a group of builders and developers who appeared to be making it happen during the madness of the boom, and crashed hard in the bust.

Daniel Prewett, who was sentenced last month to 18 years in prison for drug and money laundering convictions, borrowed $2.509 million from Freedom in July 2005 to finance the conversion of a resort hotel on St. Pete Beach to condominiums, and defaulted two years later.

Similarly, companies belonging to David Winterrowd, a Sarasota accountant and home builder who was once a partner of jailed mortgage broker Todd Kolbe, defaulted on $2.4 million in loans. And Anna Maria Island developers Steve Noriega and Robert Byrne, who filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2006, listing more than $30 million in debts to a slew of banks and private investors, defaulted on a $200,000 loan.

Other developers that caused Freedom problems were Jack LeFrock and Roger Van Wie, who attempted to build upscale homes in on Siesta Key and in Sarasota's West of the Trail neighborhood. LeFrock and Van Wie ultimately defaulted on $2.732 million in loans to Freedom and about $7 million more to other banks.

Freedom also foreclosed on a $775,366 loan to Sarasota attorney Michael Wyckoff, who invested in multiple properties in Sarasota and Manatee counties during the boom and is now facing multiple foreclosures.

Other speculators who received loans from Freedom that have since gone bad include Steven M. Judd and Sarasota real estate agent Mark P. Riley.

20/20 hindsight

Given hindsight, it is easy to say that lending to these people was a mistake. But plenty of other banks in the region were doing it.

One of Freedom's loans, however, was clearly marked by red flags before Freedom extended the money. It was a $2.9 million loan to Marvin Slovacek and Gary Schmeichel, who proposed to build a 17-unit town house development in Bradenton's Point Pleasant neighborhood.

Just three years before borrowing from Freedom in 2005, Slovacek's Clearwater development company, Westfalia Real Estate Services, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.

Slovacek has now left the country.

"Relatives say he has found religion," said Ryan Snyder, a Bradenton real estate attorney. "He joined a mission in Prague and will be there for three years. So Freedom is going to have to wait."

Besides loans to people and companies that have given other banks trouble, Freedom also extended loans to people who have a long history of success in the real estate game. Take former former Florida Senate President John McKay.

McKay has been a successful real estate investor and developer for more than two decades. But he and his partner, William Balsinger, were unable bring a 288-unit, multifamily housing project slated for Malachite Drive in Lakewood Ranch out of the ground and ended up defaulting on a $4.135 million loan in April.

"Our project is facing the same challenges as so many others right now," McKay said. "Those challenges are due to tightness in both the credit and lending markets. But we continue to work to hopefully bring out project to success."

Likewise, Mike Rahn, a Sarasota mortgage broker and high-ranking officer of the Florida Home Builders Association, defaulted on $1.226 million he borrowed from Freedom with his co-developer Thomas Brady to finance a development in Palmetto.

Another company to default on a loan was Town & Country Developers of Florida, a subsidiary of a national development company headed by James Bovino.

Town & Country, which operates in eight states, defaulted on a $4.5 million loan that was used to initiate a multifamily housing project near the Ellenton Ice & Sports Complex.

Then there was Roland Rogers, who completed more than a dozen residential projects in Pinellas County over the past five years. In December 2005, Freedom lent Rogers $1.328 million to finance the purchase of an eight-unit apartment building on Clearwater Beach. But Rogers was unable to proceed with his redevelopment project and defaulted 18 months later.

Similarly, Steven Baker and Stephen Reynolds defaulted on a $3.542 million loan that was used to finance the acquisition and initial development of a 92-home development at Wilderness Estates on Gamble Creek in Parrish.

In May, Reynolds said he was moving ahead with what would be an environmentally friendly development, explaining that there was still a market for "sustainable green lifestyle community" with houses in the $375,000 to $825,000 range. But Freedom foreclosed the following month.

Other home builders to cause Freedom loan problems are Sam Coniglio of American Sterling Homes, who owes $1.556 million, and Gordon Griffis of Griffis Custom Homes, who owes $899,091.

Then there is K2M, a trio of partners who speculated on buying, fixing up and selling bank branches. Though they were initially succeeded in selling five properties for $5.5 million more than they paid, Edward Ketchum, Richard Kingan and Larry Mau got caught when banks began feeling the effects of the housing crisis and postponed expansion plans.

The result was that the trio of investors defaulted on three Freedom loans totaling $5.08 million.