2 arrested in Bay Area property deed fraud scheme
TAMPA, Fla. - The FDLE busted a multi-year property fraud scheme across Hillsborough and Pasco Counties.
Investigators arrested Orenthanal James Bennett and Victoria Strickler, charging them both with organized scheme to defraud over $50,000.
Investigators say the fraudsters targeted the homes of people who had died or were suffering from health issues.
The FDLE accuses Bennett of transferring the deeds for two homes in Pasco County and one home in Hillsborough County out of the legal owners’ names.
According to investigators, the owners of two of the homes had died several years prior, and the owners of the third home were suffering from dementia-related health issues.
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"When this does happen, you don't really know about it until, maybe there's a knock on your door and someone says, ‘This is my property. What are you doing here?’" Pasco County Clerk Nikki Alvarez-Sowles said.
Pasco County officials say vulnerable people and properties are some of the most common targets of property fraud.
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"And you wouldn't even know it because people are recording things in the official record on a property, and it would change the title ownership from the owner into usually a company name," Alvarez-Sowles said. "It could be also an individual name. Could be fictitious. And they do it, maybe a couple of times. And then, at the point in time, they sell the property to an unknowing buyer."
In this case, investigators say once Bennett transferred the deeds out of the legal owners’ names, he allegedly transferred the deeds through multiple different entities that he was associated with, before selling them.
According to an affidavit, the properties were sold for a total of nearly $250,000.
After the homes were sold, the investigators say Bennett signed the deeds, and Strickler, who’s a title agent, notarized them.
Orenthanal James Bennett and Victoria Strickler mugshots.
"The only deeds that I believe my client was involved in were transactions between the other individual, the other gentleman, or entities that he was involved with and her," Bjorn Brunvand, Strickler’s attorney said. "So, the deeds leading up to that, my client had no involvement in."
Strickler’s attorney says she has had professional transactions with Bennett in the past, but there was no conspiracy in this case.
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"That is a person that she has had business transactions with and in the past, in her professional capacity," Brunvand said. "So, yes, there's been transactions with that person, but there has been no conspiracy. There has been no agreement to violate the law. And, if there was any criminal conduct in any way connected to my client, she was unaware of it."
Brunvand says she’s cooperated with law enforcement throughout years of investigation.
Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office is investigating the case.
Pasco County officials say property fraud is an issue around the state.
Nearly every county in Florida has a fraud alert system, where property owners can sign up to get alerts any time some documents are filed with their information.
"So, when a document gets recorded in our official record, it will hit off of the name that you put into the search term," Alvarez-Sowles said.
She says this alert system is designed to help people get the information as soon as people and keep property fraud from happening.
"I would get a notification emailed to me with a link to the document," Alvarez-Sowles said. "I can go look at the document. I can tell right then if I initiated that or if it's fraudulent."
Click here for more information about how to sign up for property fraud alerts in Pasco County.
Click here for information about signing up for property fraud in your county.