Three Oklahoma City residents have been sentenced final week to federal jail for conspiring to steal titles to properties and different properties.
Laura R. Johnson, 47, Thomas Johhnson Sr., 54, and Cheryl M. Ashley, 72, have been sentenced collectively to greater than 21 years in federal jail for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in reference to a scheme to take possession of the properties with out the consent or information of the property house owners.
The trio used fraudulent paperwork from 2014 till 2019 to acquire titles to properties and different properties.
They focused properties that had delinquent property taxes and have been topic to being auctioned by the Oklahoma County treasurer’s workplace.
Authorities mentioned the scheme concerned paying off a number of years of again taxes to trigger the properties to be faraway from the county tax public sale.
The defendants then claimed they’d bought the properties on the county tax public sale. Instead, they filed fraudulent guarantee deeds to switch properties into the names of fictitious firms and people.
The scheme included fraudulent confidential stamp tax affidavits and pretend mortgages that contained cast notary signatures and seals.
More: An OKC trio stole a dead woman’s home. Did they try to steal yours?
Authorities mentioned some householders vacated their properties based mostly on phony eviction notices.
The defendants focused one house that had been owned by a lady who died in 2012.
They gained management of the lady’s property, discovered financial institution data in her house and cast an influence of lawyer to deceive the financial institution in an try and withdraw greater than $100,000 from the lady’s checking account.
When that try failed, they tried to steal cash by writing cast checks on the lady’s account and inflicting digital transfers out of the account for his or her private profit.
Authorities mentioned the trio additionally filed a false will in Oklahoma County District Court after the lady’s nephew discovered of the dying and filed a probate motion.
Following a grand jury indictment, every defendant pleaded responsible on Nov. 17, 2020, to a single depend of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
Laura R. Johnson was sentenced to 151 months in federal jail adopted by three years of supervised launch.
Thomas Johnson Sr. was sentenced to 42 months in federal jail to be adopted by three years of supervised launch.
Ashley was sentenced to 5 years in federal jail to be adopted by three years of supervised launch.
This article initially appeared on Oklahoman: Federal prison for Oklahoma City group that stole property
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