Stealing a HOUSE?

[Cloudbringer]

This floored me. I mean I know identity theft and crime in general go on every day but stealing a house and selling it?! Takes a lot of nerve and sheesh, like nobody would know? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

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Ohio man accused of stealing house

Associated Press
Last updated: 9:16 p.m., Monday, February 7, 2005

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Police accuse a man of stealing a house, after another man returned to his parents' home following his widowed mother's funeral and found someone living there.
Jon Thomas, 54, said the house in this Cleveland suburb was shuttered when his parents moved to an assisted living center in 2000.

Now living in New York City, he returned with his wife and teenage son two days before Christmas 2003 and saw lights shining inside, cars parked in the back and an elaborate Christmas display on the lawn.

"I was dumbfounded," he said.

Rather than confront the occupants, the Thomases went to police in this upscale community of winding, tree-lined boulevards.

"We've never had a case like this here before," said police Chief Walter Ugrinic.

After a year of tracing property transactions and rental agreements, police arrested Richard Lenard, 26, of nearby Richmond Heights, on a charge of grand theft.

Police accuse Lenard of stealing the house, which Thomas says is worth $300,000, and its contents. Thomas says Lenard allegedly sold $180,000 worth of furnishings in two 2003 estate sales.

Thomas has sued Lenard for compensation. He also has asked a probate court to return ownership of the home to him.

The four-bedroom house is currently in the name of Tara Vaden Williams, who bought the house from Lenard in May 2004, for $50,000, according to county records.

Lenard was released from jail last week after posting 10 percent of a $25,000 bond.

Lenard could not be reached for comment. A message seeking comment was left Monday at his phone number listed in court records. The only directory assistance listing under his name in the Cleveland area has been disconnected.

"There's no question that a fraud occurred," said Lenard's attorney, Jeffrey Saffold. "The question is whether Mr. Lenard was a willful participant or an unknowing victim of the fraud."

Lenard lived with his grandmother across the street from the Thomases in 2000, their son said.

Jon Thomas said he stayed in a hotel when he visited Percy and Regina Thomas at the assisted-living center because he thought their house was closed up. Percy Thomas died in 2000, his wife died three years later.

In November 2002, Lenard accompanied a woman who called herself Regina Thomas' daughter, Helen Thomas, to the Cuyahoga County recorder's office, where she presented a New York driver's license and a letter stating she had power of attorney for Regina Thomas, said Jon Thomas' lawyer, Dean Boland.

Jon Thomas, an only child, said the recorder's office accepted the documents and allowed the woman identified as Helen Thomas to sell the home for $25,000 to AMI Financial LLC, a security commodity brokerage whose registered agent is Lenard.

"To transfer the deed to a home based on a fake New York driver's license and a forged power of attorney, I find that unbelievable," Thomas said.

Williams could not be reached for comment Monday. Calls to the phone listed under her name at the disputed address went unanswered Monday.

[Harkoliar]

i hate people who are fraudsters.. makes me want to pound them to bits

[pritchke]

Originally posted by Cloudbringer: This floored me. I mean I know identity theft and crime in general go on every day but stealing a house and selling it?! Takes a lot of nerve and sheesh, like nobody would know? [img]tongue.gif[/img] ------------------------------------------

Does not surprise me. Very similar to the stealing and selling of property. They get certain pieces of id and sell $100 000 worth of land that you own. Happened to an old lady near Edmonton who owned an acreage. Since she was quite some distance from the city that is alot of land. Was sold to a casino to open a new casino and she didn't find out about it until an inspector came to properly access the land that she no longer owned it but was still inside her fence. Fortunately the government compensated her.

Another scam is to steal old age pensions. Since only the province you died in knows your dead if a crook can get certain pieces of id they can apply for a SIN number in your name in another province even though you are dead then start drawing from your savings a little from this person, a little from that and $soon you have alot of money. That is if the feds don't catch on to all the new SIN numbers. That is one of the reason we have more SIN numbers than people.

Most of these cases are done by really intelligent, educated, upstanding citizens or so you think. One wealthy business man, was caught in pension fraud and thought to be a pillar of the community. These are not your typical punks that stab you for $50 to get there next fix, and most already of these Cons are on the high side of society and know the ends and outs of the system. Many are likely business men, or work for the government, inside people.

(DTA) Don't Trust Anyone at least with your information. Imagine all of a sudden a close relative gets caught, your Dad, your Mom, your husband, your wife. Happens because we don't know them as well as we think we do, while a close relative is not likely to use our information like that doesn't mean they will not do it to a stranger. I mean it isn't as bad as the commercial were two people have been married for 5 years with a kid and they still won't tell each other there names, but it is close. In Canada identity theft if a billion business, in the US we are talking Bill Gates kind of money. Sorry to say but it seems like it has become the American Way. Bet you know a con artist or two as well, you may not know what they do on the side for a few extra almighty dollars. This is what our society as succumbed too. Some cons even manage to get your credit information from the credit bureau.

Cons will even hide cameras in sushi to steal your identity. Seriously, in Japan one restaurent was doing this and stealing peoples identiy and making a profit from it. You get this piece of Sushi taking a piture of you credit card as you use it so it is DTAOA (Don't trust anyone or anything). Other devices that can take pictures are cell phones, even pens and lighters can be set up with a carera for the purpose of obtaining credit card numbers, pin numbers and other information. There are even watches designed to plug into lap tops and download your information. You know how there are different internet connections these days including wireless. Well some crooks here in this City decided that it would be best to make such houses with a circle with a W in the middle. Graffiti, yes but later it found out that the crocks were setting up near peoples houses with the W with there equipment and stealing information whatever they could get. You need some sort of encryption to protect wireless internet connections.

[ 02-08-2005, 11:00 AM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

[TheGodThatFailed]

Haha, that seems a little ridiculous, stealing a house...

[pritchke]

Originally posted by TheGodThatFailed: Haha, that seems a little ridiculous, stealing a house...

All someone needs is a few vital pieces of your ID and they can sell it out from under your nose. Ridiculous but it happens all to often and is easier than one might think. Information is a powerful tool.

[ 02-08-2005, 12:04 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

[Ilander]

Well...ummm...yeah...I hope I wasn't the only person who imagined the guy putting the house on the back of a really big truck when I read the title of this thread.

[Cloudbringer]

Originally posted by Ilander: Well...ummm...yeah...I hope I wasn't the only person who imagined the guy putting the house on the back of a really big truck when I read the title of this thread.

The power of positive titling....

[pritchke]

Originally posted by Cloudbringer: This floored me. I mean I know identity theft and crime in general go on every day but stealing a house and selling it?! Takes a lot of nerve and sheesh, like nobody would know? [img]tongue.gif[/img] ------------------------------------------

You know you probaly would not know until the inspector showed up to inspect the house one day or the people were there to move in. Thing about stealing houses with identity theft is most people would not buy until they saw it. A con could probaly pull this off at a house party or social event.

[ 02-08-2005, 03:26 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

[armageddon272]

Get back to me when Bill gates' mansion is invloved.

[Q'alooaith]

It's not so much a problem if you live in the house, unless you go on holiday or away from it for an extended period without telling next door, you do speak to the person next door right?

Crimes like this happen because of apathy, people don't know who lives next door well enough to know that they are not moving out.

Now with property that your not living in it's much easyer, since your less likely to have links to locals who'll notice people moving their stuff in.

Personaly if somthing like this happened to me I'd be taking legal action aganst the people who let it happen, IE the people who took the false ID's at face value.