Fraudster Sells Deceased Owners' Properties

For one determined fraudster, homeowners' deaths became a reason to celebrate.

Thirty-five-year-old Duane McKinney of Washington, D.C., could face up to 108 months in prison after he was found guilty last week of involvement in a scheme to fraudulently obtain property titles and sell them as if they were his own.

According to the Department of Justice, McKinney wrongfully took ownership of approximately 14 properties through deeds that were purported to have been signed over to him by the owners.

From the DOJ press release:

In fact, the deeds were not signed by the owners; the vast majority of the owners were deceased at the time of the forged and false deeds. McKinney was assisted by Joe D. Liles, who would sign his name to these false deeds as the "notary" falsely stating that he saw the owner sign the deeds as grantor and that the owner "personally appeared before him." [Liles pleaded guilty in January to false-statement charges.] Once the deeds were notarized, McKinney caused the forged and notarized deeds to be filed with the District of Columbia's Recorder of Deeds and the Prince George's [County, Md.] Circuit Court Land Records.

After obtaining the titles, McKinney sold nine of the properties for a profit of more than $770,000, which he used for "his own personal desires," the Justice Department said.