By Michelle Phipps-Evans

Annette Beresford, a fraud investigator in DISB’s Enforcement and Investigation Bureau, has spent much of her career fighting fraud and working to protect victims. She has worked many cases of securities, loan and real estate fraud at DISB since 2004. But she said there was something a little different about her recent and still ongoing case where two defendants stole and sold property from deceased victims and their heirs.

“We have found that the identities of deceased and living people have been used in a number of real estate fraud cases in the District,” said Beresford who has been investigating fraud since 1997. “But this was different because the defendant is charged with obtaining property without ever interacting with the seller, in most cases, because the seller had already died.”

Beresford worked with the US Attorney’s Office, the Washington Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Criminal Division of the Alexandria Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service. “It’s not unusual for multiple agencies to work on a case like this,” said Beresford, who was invited to join the investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2005.

In April 2007, a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia charged two men in connection with a scheme to steal District properties from the estates of deceased persons and others. Both were charged with conspiracy to commit forged securities. One defendant was further charged with mail fraud, wire fraud, laundering monetary instruments, first-degree theft and criminal forfeiture.

According to the 13-count indictment, the defendants obtained titles to District and Maryland properties through forged deeds, which appeared to be signed by owners transferring properties to the defendant or his nonprofit business. However, the deeds were not signed by the owners, as the vast majority were deceased at the time. The co-defendant signed his name as the notary, falsely stating he personally saw the owner sign the deeds as grantor. Once notarized, the deeds were filed with the District of Columbia’s Recorder of Deeds or the Prince George’s Circuit Court Land Records. Then, the defendant sold the properties and used the sale proceeds for personal use. Through the fraud, it is alleged he gained about 15 properties, some of which he sold to gain in excess of $770,000.

Beresford said the way the defendant was able to find the properties was simple.
“He typically looked for neglected and abandoned property and those with delinquent property taxes, distressed properties,” she said, adding that property ownership and tax records are public information.

To prevent this type of fraud, Beresford said she would advise District residents to make a will and “attend to property if it has been left to you in a will. Staying current on your taxes and not leaving your property abandoned or neglected is important.” 

The case is being handled by a federal judge taking steps toward a trial. If convicted of all counts at trial, the defendant would face a likely sentence of 87 to 108 months in prison under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines; the co-defendant could be sentenced to 27 to 33 months of incarceration. The indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless found guilty.

Michelle Phipps-Evans is the senior public affairs specialist in DISB’s Office of Communications.