Retired Houston teacher gets $100K in restitution after losing her house in a deed scheme

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A retired Houston teacher who lost her longtime home she unwittingly deeded over to a contractor is set to get some money in a civil settlement.

The announcement was made by Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee's office on Monday.

In February 2024, ABC13 broke the news that Wanda Jackson was evicted from her home back in 2023 after contractor Malcolm Pryor got her to deed her over her home for alleged house repairs. In a series of complicated real estate transactions, Pryor then sold the home to investor James Mayer, who later sold the home back to Pryor.

Those actions led to a felony criminal charge filed against Pryor. In addition, Menefee's office filed a civil suit against both men.

Now, Mayer, the real estate investor, has agreed to settle his portion of the civil case by paying Jackson $100,000 in restitution. It's not enough to get Jackson her home back, but it is significant.

"The fact that he agreed to make a $100,000 restitution payment should tell everyone out there watching that he did something wrong," Menefee said. "Though he has not been criminally charged. But I do believe there are criminal charges against the person who is at the center of this scheme."

Malcolm Pryor is indeed facing a felony criminal charge of making a false statement to obtain credit. That criminal case is still pending. Mayer's attorney did not return a request for comment.

As for Jackson, says while she's grateful she's getting something, that's nowhere close to the cost of losing her home and the majority of her personal possessions.

"For what I lost, it's not even a drop in the bucket," she says.

But Menefee says her case is already leading to long-term changes in Harris County.

"Actually it was (ABC13) reporting, and this case that led us to opening up a hotline about this type of issues, and led to a number of reports being brought in," Menefee said. "Now we have several cases we're working through."

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