Stolen Home Crime Ring Busted

[The Bobster]

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.

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20090212_15_charged_as_house_thieves.html

15 charged as house thieves
By DANA DiFILIPPO
Philadelphia Daily News

They preyed on the vulnerable: elderly folks who moved into nursing homes, sick people gone on extended hospital or rehabilitation stays, immigrants and others with a slippery grasp on both English and local laws.

But yesterday, 15 people accused in an elaborate house-stealing scheme got a new address themselves - prison.

District Attorney Lynne Abraham announced their arrests in a morning news conference in which she complained that laxness of regulations and in the oversight of notaries and deed-recording allow house-stealing to flourish in Philadelphia.

"House-stealing is a regular and cottage industry in the city," Abraham said. "[It] is especially despicable when a person is
victimized by others pretending to help but [who] really have no intention of being helpful and instead are intent on ripping you off by villainy and treachery."

The suspects hunted for homes that were left empty when their owners died, or had moved into nursing facilities for medical care, or otherwise left, Abraham said. They then forged documents to make it appear that they owned the property, and "sold" the homes to unsuspecting buyers, usually for cash, Abraham said.

They typically targeted unsuspecting house-hunters who weren't fluent in English or were ignorant of the intricacies of real-estate law, Abraham added.

The scheme proved profitable: The suspects illegally sold at least 82 homes in Kensington and other neighborhoods, and likely have pocketed more than $400,000 since 2004, Abraham said.

And the crime's toll is far-reaching.

Besides what they paid to buy the homes, many victims spent thousands on repairs; legal owners spent money to regain rightful ownershi
p and to evict buyers, and the city got cheated of real-estate taxes, Abraham said.

Abraham plans to report the suspects to the IRS for income-tax evasion.

Citizen complaints suggest that the crime is epidemic, Abraham said.

Her office has fielded nearly 500 other allegations of house-stealing that are now being investigated.

Flaws in the system allow house-stealing schemes to thrive, Abraham said.

"No one seriously enforces state laws requiring the person who sells a property to appear in person before the notary public," Abraham said.

State law also doesn't require notaries to keep customers' proof of identification, which then stymies investigations such as the one that led to this grand-jury indictment, Abraham added.

Four people arrested yesterday were notaries - the scheme's alleged ringleaders, Carlos Quiles and Ivan Delgado, both 58, of Philadelphia, and alleged conspirators Lenora Irene Jackson, 59, of Philadelphia, and Rebecca A. Robinson, 63, o
f Sicklerville, N.J.

Besides lax notary oversight, state law governing deed-recording aids house-stealers, Abraham said.

State law requires that a recorder of deeds record a deed first and afterward check the accuracy and legality of the transfer.

"That's a recipe for disaster," Abraham said. "The law puts the cart before the horse and practically guarantees that house-stealing will continue to flourish in Philadelphia and across this commonwealth."

In a city of continually shrinking population, house-stealing likely will become a bigger problem unless lawmakers tighten oversight of notaries and deed-recording, Abraham said.

Others arrested were: Troy Baylor, 44; Kenneth Lyons, 40; Juanita Torres, 64; Alberto Rodriguez, 49; Vincent Wilder, 47; David Lespier, 47; Maria Roman, 39; Zoraida Cuevas, 49; and Marino Rodriguez, 42, all of Philadelphia. Also, Richard Smith, 45, and Daralease Brown, 43, both of Norristown.

Some suspects sought to increase their illu
sion of legitimacy by joining well-known community groups like Men United for a Better Philadelphia, investigators found.

Lyons used the honorific "reverend" and often called himself "bishop," but authorities did not say with what church, if any, he is affiliated.

Baylor claimed to have been employed by the city and a former state lawmaker.

Some of the suspects share close ties. Alberto and Marino Rodriguez and Cuevas are siblings; Roman is Alberto Rodriguez's ex-girlfriend; and Brown is Smith's ex-girlfriend, investigators said.

All are charged with corrupt organizations, conspiracy, theft, forgery, burglary, perjury and related offenses.

Seven were in custody yesterday. Investigators were hunting for the others.

Abraham urged that to avoid becoming a victim, citizens who own or inherit property that they don't live in should visit the sites regularly or hire someone to do so, to disconnect utilities and ensure that taxes are paid up.

Home-buyers should inv
estigate realty agents to make sure that they are legitimate, ask to meet the owners, consult an attorney and verify the legitimacy of paperwork.

Buyers should receive their deed within two weeks of the sale, and should contact authorities if that deed doesn't come, she said.