Florida is home to some of the craziest criminal schemes in the country.
The Sunshine State has a new breed of crook praying on unsuspecting victims.
And a Florida couple had an awful scam to steal people’s homes using one weird trick.
Florida couple uses a deed scam that costs less than a dollar to get possession of homes
A home is the biggest investment that most people make in their lives.
But a scam run by a husband and wife duo in Florida took advantage of inept government bureaucracy to steal homes.
Victor Rodriguez, 50, and his 33-year-old wife Michelle Cherry were arrested for fraud after they managed to take possession of homes through a quitclaim deed scam.
“A quitclaim deed is a written document that transfers the title (ownership) of real property such as a home or piece of land. A quitclaim deed offers no warranties or guarantees that the owner has good title or ownership, but simply conveys whatever interest exists when the deed is executed (transferred) and delivered,” the Ohio Bar Association stated.
They get their name because the owner quits their claim to the property.
Quitclaim deeds are typically used when transferring property within a family where no money is exchanged.
Rodriguez’s former father-in-law was one of the victims of the couple’s scam.
His ex-wife Caroline Sauer was shocked at what happened.
“We found out that the titles of my father’s properties had all changed through quitclaim deeds,” Sauer said. “We questioned, how did this happen?”
Rodriguez and Cherry were able to forge the signatures of the property owner to get it transferred to them via a quitclaim deed at the county clerk’s office.
Getting a quitclaim deed costs less than a dollar in Florida in most cases.
“Who forges a deceased person’s signature? Who does that?” Sauer exclaimed.
Homeowners blindsided to find out it was stolen from them
The Florida couple also used a quitclaim deed to take ownership of the Tampa, Florida home of Larry and Dreama Bilby.
Rodriguez and Cherry strolled into the Hillsborough County Clerk’s Office where they took control of the Bilby’s unfinished home that was under construction.
“I was so angry, I almost couldn’t talk,” Dreama Bilby told Fox’s Tampa affiliate WTVT. “I was so angry.”
“Just like that, your house is stolen. It’s gone,” Bilby added.
In Florida, it only took a few steps for the couple to pull off their quitclaim deed scam.
Hillsborough County Clerk Cindy Stuart said a quitclaim deed “only requires a notary and two signatures with an address listed next to them.”
Assistant State Attorney Mike Lennon warned that quitclaim deed scams are increasing.
“They looked for properties that they believed were abandoned, and then they used online information to forge signatures on these deeds to file them with the clerk of court,” Lennon explained.
“To have someone steal your property is like stealing the American dream,” Lennon said. “It’s terrible.”
The scam fell apart when the clerk of the court’s office notified the Bilbys of the unusual activity on their deed.
The Bilbys now face an expensive and time-consuming legal battle to get their names back on the title to their home.
“The fact that the form is so simple and requires so little documentation is problematic,” Stuart said.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
