Taylor went to the Butler County Recorders Office on March 11 and allegedly tried to record a deed for the property on Quail Meadow Lane in the township, land he did not own, according to Chief Deputy Recorder Denise Goll.
“Something wasn’t quite right,” she said.
MORE: New Butler County service detects possible mortgage fraud
She said it was at the end of the day, so the office couldn’t finalize the transaction, but officials allowed him to prepay the fee and sent him to the auditor’s office. The auditor must transfer the property before it can be recorded. The county auditor also refused to convey the property after questioning his documentation.
Goll said she located Falah, and he said the house was recently bought at a sheriff’s sale and was going to be flipped for another sale.
“A little while later he calls me back and he had a subcontractor that went out to that house,” she said. “There was a note on the front door that said the property was under new ownership and there was a phone number and they had changed all the locks.”
Falah told the Journal-News that Taylor wasn’t living there, although he had been at the house the day before, and he found a few small things Taylor had moved in.
“I was kind of surprised, shocked,” he said. “Then I just told my guys, ‘Let’s just break the locks and move on with it.’ It was definitely a scary thing this guy thought he could get away with.”
Butler County Recorder Danny Crank told Goll to send Falah to the county prosecutor.
A grand jury handed down three third-degree felony counts for burglary and tampering with records and two fifth-degree felony forgery counts on Sept. 11. Prosecutor Mike Gmoser said Taylor faces up to 36 months in prison if convicted.
“It is a case where the recorders across the country have received these exceptional circumstances with somebody using the recorders office to file bogus deeds, to obtain possession of property,” Gmoser said. “In some instances they actually get loans against the property or even try to resell the property to unsuspecting buyers.”
Gmoser said the recorder’s office was able to intercept the fraudulent transaction, otherwise the result would have been different.
“Suddenly, temporarily somebody is going to get a call that their house has been stolen,” Gmoser said. “There’s an old expression you can’t get title from a thief so ultimately that which is done illegally can be undone, but oftentimes with great expense, time, frustration as well as attorney’s fees.”
Gmoser and Crank said this is the first time this has happened in Butler County, to their knowledge. But Crank said his office has new fraud detection software so if anyone is concerned that someone has tinkered with their property they can be alerted.
“Nationwide in some of the larger cities it’s been an issue,” Crank said. “But the recorders along with help from other people have tried to come up with mechanisms to make sure people know there is something going on in their property.”
People can sign up for alerts at recorder.butlercountyohio.org/about_us/fraudsleuth/index.php
There is an arrest warrant out for Taylor, but he is not in the county jail.
“I want others to know if you pull this kind of crap in Butler County, same way with scammers and things like that, we’re going to come down hard on you,” he said. “That’s just kind of what we do.”
About the Author