DELTONA -- You can add fraud to the list of problems resulting from the country's home foreclosure crisis. In Deltona, a 29-year-old man is accused of filing phony court papers to claim ownership of foreclosed homes and then taking down "for sale" signs, changing locks and moving in.
"Two weeks ago, Volusia County Sheriff's investigators found Andrew Brown all moved in to a home on Shadow Ridge Drive, complete with furniture, clothing, food and a pet dog," Volusia County Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said. "They hauled off Brown to jail on charges of burglary, grand theft and criminal mischief. Sheriff's investigators, meanwhile, continue to look into Brown's activities, saying he may have tried to pull off the same scam with at least four other houses."
The investigation was initiated on March 22 after a Realtor called the Sheriff's Office to a home on Clay Court in Deltona. The Realtor said the home was in foreclosure and supposed to be vacant and that she had been contracted by the bank to sell it. But when the Realtor went to show the house, it was full of furniture and it appeared that someone had moved in. Deputies knocked on the door for a quite a while before a woman with a 1-year-old child answered.
The woman told deputies that she and her boyfriend had rented the house from Brown and assumed the rental agreement was legitimate. Investigators, however, aren't certain that
any money changed hands.
"They ordered the couple to move out," Davidson said. "After researching Brown's name in courthouse records, investigators decided to check out a home the next day on Shadow Ridge Drive. An agent for the owner met deputies at the house, and they got inside with the help of a locksmith. As they went in, the alarm system that Brown had installed in the house went off. About 15 minutes later, Brown showed up and claimed that he owned the house."
He even had a Florida identification card showing the address as his place of residence, Davidson said. Investigators, however, had already researched the house and discovered that Brown had filed a phony lien and default notice at the courthouse and insisted that the paperwork gave him the right to claim ownership of the house.
Sheriff's investigator John Frazzini arrested Brown on March 23. He posted $20,000 bond and was released from the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach on March 26.
The case remains under investigation and additional charges against Brown are expected to be filed. Anyone with information regarding Brown is asked to contact investigator Frazzini at
(386) 860-7030.