Tuesday, December 04, 2007

3 Arrested at Closing

Kayla Stewart, 47, Lisha Lee, 36, and Valerie Nabors, 26, were arrested at the First American Title Office at 303 West Court Street, San Bernardino, California when they forged the signature of a 72-year-old female victim on a Grant Deed using a fictitious Louisiana driver’s license.

The elderly victim resides in Georgia and owns a home on the 1500 block of West Flores Street, San Bernardino, California that she was trying to sell. When the victim’s son was listing her property for sale, he discovered that her property had been fraudulently transferred to a female subject with no connection to the victim’s family. The forged deed had been filed and recorded at the San Bernardino County Recorder’s Office and the suspects were attempting to refinance the property for $160,000 through First American Title Company in Santa Cruz, California.

Investigators contacted Glenn Jackson of the First American Title Office in San Bernardino and arranged for the suspects to come into the business office and sign another Grant Deed. District Attorney Investigators, posing as office workers, met with Kayla Stewart at the title office.  Stewart gave undercover investigators a fictitious Louisiana driver’s license with Stewart’s picture on it and the identity of the 72-year-old victim.  Stewart signed the grant deed and was immediately arrested after completing the transaction.  District Attorney Investigators, who were outside in the parking lot of the Title company, identified Lisha Kim Lee and Valerie Patrice Nabors, who were waiting in a vehicle. Lee and Nabors were questioned and taken into custody.

All three suspects were transported and booked at the Sheriff’s Central Detention Center in San Bernardino. Kayla Stewart was booked for Conspiracy to commit Forgery, Identity Theft, and Financial Elder Abuse. Her bail was set at $50,000.00 at the time of booking. Lisha Lee was booked for Conspiracy to commit Forgery, Identity Theft and Financial Elder Abuse also with a bail of $50,000.00.

Valerie Nabors was booked for Conspiracy to commit Forgery, Identity Theft and Financial Elder Abuse.  Nabors was also found to be on active felony Parole from the California Department of Corrections and booked for Parole Violation. She is being held without bail.

mortgage fraud

1. So fantastic these people were caught and it sounds like it was just timing of the son listing the property. So how could a mortgage company have detected this? When possible we access old records and compare signatures on the old files before submitting the file to underwriting. It helps so much when the county makes the files available online. In Georgia, in addition to Interthinx, we use the Georgia Superior Courts Clerks Cooperative Association to view older documents online - a very powerful set of tools in uncovering fraud like this.

   Posted by  on  12/06  at  05:52 AM