Alleged home warranty deed forgery scheme exposes flaws in Harris County legal system
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The investigation into a man who police say forged warranty deeds on properties worth $15 millionis expanding because police say they found more victims.
Earlier this month, Timothy Willard was arrested and charged for allegedly forging warranty deeds on at least three properties, including his father's.
Two of the properties were multi-million-dollar vacant lots in the River Oaks area.
Memorial Village police recognized the suspect immediately because they had been investigating him since the summer. They have now charged him with forgery and fraudulent securing of a document execution.
ORIGINAL REPORT: Suspect accused of scheme to sell River Oaks property, including his dad's
On June 6, a resident reported someone tried to sell one of his vacant real estate properties without his consent, according to police.
Detectives learned the suspect forged documents using the actual property owner's name and submitted them to a real estate agent to list the property for sale. He communicated via email, text, and calls with the real estate agent and met with them at the vacant property to discuss the deal, according to police.
"He was claiming to be a representative of the family and pretty much speaking on their behalf," Det. Christopher Rodriguez said. "He did not list his name anywhere."
The property was listed for $9 million, then the price dropped to $4.31 million.
SEE ALSO: 'Mastermind' of $15M warranty deed scam against Houston-area properties wanted after missing court
The property owner managed to notify the police before anyone purchased the property. However, police say one property owner in West University was not as lucky and says Willard successfully sold his property. The property was appraised at $819,000, and Willard was able to set it for $530,000. Detectives notified the title company of the fraudulent sale and were able to contact their financial institution and have those funds frozen and reversed back to their account.
That owner is still trying to get his property back, and it has been a long process, according to the detective.
Willard did this by putting the deeds in his name to make it appear the property owner transferred it to him and submitted everything by mail and FedEx to the Harris County Clerk's Office, according to detectives.
"It's very easy for someone who has a lot of time to come up with a plan and submit documents and have your property turned and transferred to their name without you even knowing about it," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said it was also frightening to see how easy it was for him to forge notarizing the deeds.
"Knowing how easy it is to go to OfficeMax and get a notary stamp and try to make it look legitimate is pretty scary thing because anybody can go and do that forge your property and sell it without you knowing," Rodriguez said.
ABC13 reached out to the county clerk to find out why it seems so easy to forge deeds and what measures they have in place to detect fraud. Essentially, they have none.
In a statement, the Harris County Clerk's Office said, "The Harris County Clerk's Office is a recording agency that, by statute, is mandated to accept property document filings without discrimination to the public. Still, in instances that we suspect a document is fraudulent, whether submitted electronically or in person, the case is provided to the District Attorney's Office for review.
We are currently exploring ways to mitigate these challenges. But there is currently no application available that can be implemented to catch this type of activity before it happens. The laws that guide property transactions in Texas need to be strengthened by the legislature to allow the implementation of measures to eliminate this type of fraud."
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