PHOENIX — When looking over the home she owns in Phoenix, D’Andrea Turner can’t help but get sentimental.
“This is home. It will always be home,” Turner told ABC15. “I raised my babies here.”
D’Andrea lived in this home for years with her now ex-husband, Keith. D’Andrea has since moved out, and Keith is a long-haul trucker, which left the home vacant for a period of time.
But in January, they learned their home had been sold with the title documents even published on the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office website.
“That is not my name, and that’s not my signature,” Turner said. “How does this happen? At what point that someone didn’t do their job?”
Investigators say 51-year-old Aaron Polmanteer and 37-year-old Lledera Hollen forced entry and moved into the vacant home. The pair then “assumed the identity” of the Turners after gaining access to documents inside the home and forging other documents, impersonating the Turners.
“The property did have documents in it of the true homeowners, and they assumed the identity of the homeowners and turned around and produced fraudulent identification,” said James Carrieres, who investigates document fraud for the Phoenix Police Department.
“Squatters stole my house,” D’Andrea said. “They actually moved in, posed as me, and sold my house.”
Polmanteer and Hollen then contacted a third-party real estate contractor who marketed the home without an agent, primarily to investors. A pair of experienced investors ended up buying the house for more than $200,000. But these investors tried to do their due diligence. They told ABC15, and court records confirmed, they toured the home on two separate occasions with Polmanteer and Hollen posing as the real homeowners.
“It feels so surreal,” D’Andrea said. “I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. Really, I didn’t even think something like this could happen.”
The suspects finally hit a roadblock when investigators said they couldn't cash checks in the actual homeowners' names, despite multiple attempts. One of the would-be buyers told ABC15 they are still working to get their money back.
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“I would say it's brazen and bold for what they did,” said Carrieres. “These aren’t specific to Phoenix. They happen throughout the Valley.”
Listed on the warranty deed is Pioneer Title Agency. A representative from the Title Agency told ABC15 they didn’t catch this case until after the sale but said their fraud department is thwarting a dozen of these cases a week. They said this seller impersonation fraud primarily comes from criminals overseas.
Both investigators and the title company say many scammers do not want to use a legitimate title company, which can complicate thwarting the scam.
“In this case, the title company is literally responsible for paying back the investor all of his money, getting the title reverted back to the homeowner, as well as establishing loans that were there,” Carrieres said.
Carrieres says vacant homes and raw land are most at risk to this type of fraud, but all counties in the state now have a title alert system, allowing you to be alerted any time your name or business name appears on a title processed by the County Recorder’s Office.
Here's a quick video explaining how to sign up for the alert online:
“That should put people on alert to know if, out of the blue, you suddenly get a notice from our office saying something has been filed in your name, then you have the opportunity to call our office, contact law enforcement and put a stop to it,” said Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap.
Keith and D’Andrea are still the rightful owners of the home, but D’Andrea saw mail addressed to Polmanteer and Hollen when she peeked into the mailbox.
In addition to the title alert system, both Carrieres and Pioneer Title Agency advised setting up a Google alert for your address, which can help you catch anyone listing your home for sale online.
