BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – Over the course of the past four years those who met Kenneth Anthony Frank were told he was an attorney – but it turns out no one by that name is in the Florida Bar.
Frank was arrested Wednesday after a complicated, winding investigation through financial records and real estate transactions.
"Hard work, research, getting victims to actually talk about and helping to explain the complexity of the crime," Robbie Werner, an intern with a private investigator, said about the arrest.
In fact, Werner decided to become a private investigator specifically to help put together a case against Frank – who now faces 21 counts of fraud, forgery, theft, filing false legal papers and practicing law without a license.
He field false legal papers in both county and federal courts, according to court documents.Investigators were able to get a sworn testimony in May from Garry Saunders, who told them that he met Frank in 2012, shortly after his Deerfield Beach went into foreclosure.
That case closed in May 2012 – but even after the final judgment was issued there was civil litigation, with many of those filings signed "Garry Saunders Pro Se."
Saunders testified that most of the filings under that name were prepared Frank.Eventually Saunders' home was sold and that's when he and Frank retaliated against the people and entities involved in the purchase of Saunders’ home by filing fraudulent liens.
Frank prepared the liens, which were issued to three properties for $1 million and one property for $90,000.
And that wasn’t the only case that appeared in court documents of Frank allegedly posing as an attorney.
Detectives report Frank would swoop in to help as a real estate professional or lawyer, collect fees and rents and file court papers -- all without any license in an alleged scheme to steal.
There are other people out there who claim to be victims, but those detailed in the arrest report spool a story of an ex-con from New York who essentially gamed the real estate and foreclosure processes.
"He was introduced to me as an attorney. He started to do a foreclosure defense on my house," Charles Nixon said.
Werner said he’s not surprised.
"He knew it front to back, soup to nuts, from the appellate court to bringing things federal, " he said.