The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...ryqchvt3Y4zVqd7QEuzS3RZNdrIIPrgeZEY1ltky1h2QB
Stolen Home Crime Ring Busted
Updated 11:05 AM EST, Thu, Feb 12, 2009
Harry Hairston and the NBC 10 Investigators was the only team there when police raided the home of a man police say allegedly headed up a house stealing crime ring early Wednesday morning.
And the NBC 10 Investigators were also exclusively on the scene when police arrested another person they say was a suspected member.
"These modern day robber barons made hundreds of thousands of dollars on the dreams they killed of unsuspecting and unsophisticated citizens," Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham told reporters Wednesday.
The District Attorney says the crime ring forged fake deeds to more than 80 abandoned homes o
ver three years and then sold them to unknowing low income buyers.
The D.A. says some of the homes sold for a little as $2,000 to $3,000 dollars.
“Because these victims were unsuspecting that when the sellers demanded cash the buyers paid in cash,"� Abraham said.
Police say the crime ring even used an abandoned home to setup a fake real estate company to scam their victims.
“They never knew until it was too late that what they bought was nothing,"� said Abraham.
Authorities say the investigation started three years after a family came to then complaining they bought a house but couldn't get the title.
That led investigators to Troy Baylor who claimed he was the CEO of BNB Realty. The NBC 10 Investigators first met Baylor in 2006.
He said he was a Philadelphia Police chaplain and community activist, dedicated to fighting crime in his neighborhood. But it turns out crime is what he’s been committing since 1997.
Court records show Baylor
has pleaded guilty to stalking, harassment, simple assault and impersonating a public servant.
The D.A. says Baylor and his 14 co-defendants all face nine felony charges related to house stealing and two misdemeanors.
Stolen Home Crime Ring Busted
Updated 11:05 AM EST, Thu, Feb 12, 2009
Harry Hairston and the NBC 10 Investigators was the only team there when police raided the home of a man police say allegedly headed up a house stealing crime ring early Wednesday morning.
And the NBC 10 Investigators were also exclusively on the scene when police arrested another person they say was a suspected member.
"These modern day robber barons made hundreds of thousands of dollars on the dreams they killed of unsuspecting and unsophisticated citizens," Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham told reporters Wednesday.
The District Attorney says the crime ring forged fake deeds to more than 80 abandoned homes o
ver three years and then sold them to unknowing low income buyers.
The D.A. says some of the homes sold for a little as $2,000 to $3,000 dollars.
“Because these victims were unsuspecting that when the sellers demanded cash the buyers paid in cash,"� Abraham said.
Police say the crime ring even used an abandoned home to setup a fake real estate company to scam their victims.
“They never knew until it was too late that what they bought was nothing,"� said Abraham.
Authorities say the investigation started three years after a family came to then complaining they bought a house but couldn't get the title.
That led investigators to Troy Baylor who claimed he was the CEO of BNB Realty. The NBC 10 Investigators first met Baylor in 2006.
He said he was a Philadelphia Police chaplain and community activist, dedicated to fighting crime in his neighborhood. But it turns out crime is what he’s been committing since 1997.
Court records show Baylor
has pleaded guilty to stalking, harassment, simple assault and impersonating a public servant.
The D.A. says Baylor and his 14 co-defendants all face nine felony charges related to house stealing and two misdemeanors.