State law enforcement authorities have broken up a scheme to fix bids on foreclosed properties in Durham and Mecklenburg county by a Virginia man claiming to be a lawyer, philanthropist, motivational speaker, Princeton University graduate, model, actor on West Wing and Law and Order (among many other shows) and a championship athlete who holds records in track and field.

The N.C. Attorney General's office has added a few more credentials to Bruce Olvin McBarnette's lengthy resume, to wit: strong-arming local pastors and others to pay cash in exchange for getting McBarnette to back off from bidding on foreclosed properties.

The state AG said today that McBarnette, of Sterling, Va., was fined $47,400 for rigging four auction bids and attempting to rig seven other bids between October 2009 and March 2010.

His victims in Durham included a pastor seeking to buy property for her church, another pastor seeking to buy property for neighborhood revitalization, and a man who was buying a foreclosed home for his mother.