Monday, November 22, 2004

Theft by Quit Claim

Stolen Real Property Title is Growing Problem

The Kansas City Star published an article on property theft .  A quote from the article provides details as to how this scheme works:

The typical scenario involves a thief forging the property owner’s name on a quitclaim deed or a warranty deed. The forgery suggests that the owner sold the house or deeded the property to the thief. The forged deed is notarized either legitimately or fraudulently, then filed with the Jackson County Department of Records. Once the document is processed, the thief becomes the owner of record.

The thief then uses the property as collateral for a bank loan. In some cases, lax or corrupt mortgage brokers and appraisers help pave the way with inflated appraisals and phony loan application documents. Another option is to sell the house as a fixer-upper to another buyer. In either scenario, the thief cashes out and seemingly disappears.  . . .

Authorities have discovered that in many cases the legitimate owners are elderly or in nursing homes. The thieves sometimes scour obituaries for deceased property owners to victimize, investigators said.

The thieves often use aliases and file a string of deeds on a single property to muddle the paper trail.

They often focus on distressed neighborhoods, cruising the streets for vacant homes. In many cases, the houses are vacant or appear abandoned by off-site owners. In such scenarios, it is less likely that the owner will discover the theft or have the financial resources to seek legal help, investigators said.

The article also references several other criminal and civil suits alleging this type of conduct, including:

Two forgery counts filed by Jackson County prosecutors against William A. Carter alleging that Carter forged the names of a deceased couple and then sold their property as a fixer-upper to Leroy Brown Jr.

A civil action in Jackson County court against Gordon J. Thomas by two Kansas City men.  The case is reported to include allegegations that the mens’ signatures were forged on a warranty deed.

A civil action against Miles Thomas, listed in the lawsuit at the same address as Gordon J. Thomas, by a 78-year-old Kansas City man in connection with an allegedly fraudulent warranty deed.

A civil lawsuit by an elderly woman against Brent Barber and three other defendants that was filed in November 2000 alleging a fraudulent quitclaim deed.  The article states that Barber is also named in four other quiet title lawsuits in Jackson County Circuit Court.  Barber was indicted by a federal grand jury in Kansas City in August and has entered a plea of not guilty.

mortgage fraud

1. i am not a lawyer, nor do i work for a loan company,
   I live in cincinnati ohio. I inharited a house to me
   that was paid for in full, my ex-wife forged a general
   power of attorney and stole a co-workers notary stamp
   and notarised the document. She then took a loan out
   on my house with out me knowing anything about it for
   $80,000, one year later she, with out me knowing it,
   went and forged a quit claim deed, stole the notary
   stamp again and went on to take a second loan on my
   inharited home for $120,000. she paid on the loan for
   about 8 months and then stopped. I found out about
   this through a notice that came in the mail that
   stated that there were foreclosure precceedings being
   filed to take my house.
   In shock I went down and pulled a copy of the quit
   claim deed from the hamilton county auditers office
   and much to my suprise i was holding a deed that had
   my forged name on it granting my ex-wife full owner
   ship of my home.
   My case is in civil court now, my lawyer believes
   that I will get my house back. i have depositions from
   all of the witnesses on these documents stating that
   they did not sign there names to them, as well as a
   deposition from my ex-wifes co-worker stating that she
   didnt notarize anything for my wife and went on to
   explain that my wife is the only other person that had
   access to her office.
   I have a question? should I go to the police? will
   the loan company do that? should I inform the loan
   company that i am filing a complaint with the police?
   How does all that work. im lost.
   Thank you I hope to here back from you, Have a great
   day. Nice web site

   Posted by  on  05/16  at  07:44 PM

2. my aunt was legally blind and her daughter tricked her into signing the property I had bought from her over to her by quick cclain deed. She told my aunt she was filing aa codicile to her will.She knew that I had paid for the property.  My aunt had left me the property in her will and after she died her daughter told me she owns my property now

   Posted by  on  11/21  at  12:42 PM

3. my aunt was tricked by her daughter into signing a quick claim deed to property that I had paid for and she had left me the property in her will to me.  My aunt was legally blind and she was told by her daughter that she was signing a codicile to her eill.  Yhe signature does not look like her writing.  Mu aunt passed away on Oct. 28 on Oct. 29 she told me she owns my property now and is going to collect rent on the mobile home on one of the lots that I have paid for

   Posted by  on  11/21  at  12:49 PM

4. Isold my home to someone signed over the deed, now two years later no taxes have been paid home in foreclousure, wanted me to agree to do short sale property deeded back to me 2 weeks before foreclousure do i have a case civil

   Posted by  on  05/13  at  08:00 AM