An elderly homeowner in Georgia was evicted from his home and arrested after an alleged fraudster used forged documents to claim ownership of the property.
Charles and Charmaine Allman lived in their home 26 miles east of Atlanta for the past 20 years until authorities told the couple on Tuesday that they no longer owned the home and had to leave. They lived in the same house in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
‘They made us feel like squatters’ – Charmaine Allman he told WSB TV. “I threw away my stuff like garbage.”
Most of the couple’s belongings were scattered throughout the garden.
The outlet reported that an anonymous man forged a deed and filed the document online with DeKalb County to claim ownership of Allman’s home.
The couple became suspicious of the suspicious activity when they received a letter in the mail confirming that a second mortgage had been taken out.
“I don’t have a mortgage anymore,” Allman said.
The new homeowner told the couple that he had purchased the home in foreclosure.
Charles Allman refused to leave when asked, but was arrested on a criminal trespass warrant filed on March 13, according to jail records reviewed by the newspaper.
“I don’t understand how this is possible,” Charmaine Allman said of her husband’s arrest. “How can this happen? It’s so upsetting to see my 77-year-old husband handcuffed and put in a car because he doesn’t want to leave the house. He has nowhere to go. I don’t have any family.”
Charles Allman was released from prison Thursday night.
“It’s too easy to forge a deed and record it,” real estate attorney Richard Alembic told WSB-TV. “This is a big problem today because it’s so easy to electronically file and electronically record deeds. It’s so easy to document fraudulent activity.”
Alembic said notaries do not perform identity checks on people who submit documents to see if they are legitimate homeowners.
Victims of fraud who have proof that they are legitimate homeowners can still be ordered by a judge to vacate and pay fines, the report said.
A New York City homeowner was arrested last week while trying to remove an alleged squatter from his property in Queens.
Adele Andaloro, 47, was arrested last month after changing the locks on a $1 million home in Flushing, Queens. She says she inherited her house when her parents died. ABC Eyewitness News reported..
The Queens District Attorney’s Office has been denied a $1 million home in Flushing after several tenants claimed they were renters rather than squatters.
