CORAL GABLES, Fla. – A South Florida senior citizen is fighting to get back property that was stolen out from under her and re-sold.
That property has bene in her family for more than 100 years.
It was stolen with a forged deed.
Because of safety concerns with COVID-19, it’s become standard practice to not have to show up to offices and sign documents, but instead have notarized materials delivered for processing.
It’s unclear what happened in this specific case, but police are moving quick.
Miami police detectives from the Economics Crime Bureau were spotted Wednesday at the Aventura title company that prepared the bogus deed which left 86-year old Shirley Gibson without the precious piece of property that’s been in her family for more than a century.
“Someone had forged my name and gone to the tax collector to pay my taxes,” Gibson said.
She is adamant that she neither agreed to sell nor signed such a deal.
A second property she owns in the same neighborhood is also fraudulently listed online for sale.
“Someone is targeting me,” she said.
Trans-State Title Insurance agency claims they’re a victim too in this case.
The owner told Local 10 by phone, “This is very disturbing news, and while this type of fraud is apparently too common in Florida, it would be a first for us. In 40 years of practice and after being involved in over 10,000 closings, this has never happened.”
The buyer, Ollie Development LLC, Is a company whose address traces back to a residential neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.
“This is happening more and more,” said Gibson’s attorney David Winker. “This is the second one I’ve been working on in two weeks where people have been victimized by the property being sold out from underneath them.”
Listed as a notary on the deal is Mohamed Chraibi, whose license is currently valid with the State of Florida, but whose only online presence comes back to a Miami Beach realty office.
Local 10 News knocked and repeatedly called Wednesday afternoon but couldn’t reach anyone
“(Chraibi) says Ms. Gibson was physically present, she showed her driver’s license and signed this warranty deed which we know she did not,” Winker said.
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