South Dallas woman pushes for tougher laws for fake property deed scams
Woman pushes for new fake property deed scam laws
Property deed theft is becoming such a problem in Texas that state lawmakers are considering creating a new criminal offense to hold crooks accountable. A South Dallas woman had no idea it was happening to her until an empty lot she owned was being cleared by strangers.
DALLAS - Texas homeowners and prosecutors shared horror stories of houses being stolen from their rightful owners.
Thieves are now using fraudulent deeds to seize control of property, and catching them is not an easy task.
Property deed theft is becoming such a problem in Texas that state lawmakers are considering creating a new criminal offense to hold crooks accountable.
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A South Dallas woman says it happened to her.
Norma Adams Wade testified virtually before the Texas House Committee on Business and Industry on Thursday.
State lawmakers held the hearing in Austin to discuss the growing number of fraudulent deeds purporting to show that property has been legitimately transferred or sold.
Wade had no idea it was happening to her until her tenant called about the empty lot she owned next door in South Dallas. The land was being cleared.
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"I saw the crew. I rushed over there and said, ‘What are you doing? What's going on?’" she recalled. "Come over here and tell me what do you mean you bought this property? I haven't sold anything to you."
Wade eventually got her hands on the fake deed of sale.
"The deed looked unprofessional once I finally did see it with crossed out words and such and an out-of-state address written in by hand on a form document," testified Wade.
But the damage was already done.
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For the past seven months, Wade has been fighting in civil court to get the property put back in her name, spending thousands of dollars on the legal process.
"It clearly was a scam," she said. "It involved mainly two people who changed Dallas County property records."
Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Phillip Clark is urging lawmakers to create a new criminal offense for theft of real property.
"I'm often asked, ‘How often does this happen?’ And we don't know," he said. "Because all thefts are categorized as theft, we don't know how many thefts across the state are real property thefts."
It would increase penalties and punishments according to the value of a property and extend the statute of limitations to file charges against those responsible.
"To provide some definitions to really clarify the prosecution because we get ridiculous arguments from defense attorneys," Clark said.
Wade said twice the two defendants have failed to show up to court, so her saga continues.
Wade told lawmakers other homeowners in her neighborhood have been victimized, too, but don't have the financial means to fight it.
The committee seems determined to take action during the next legislative session.