FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla – A woman — working for the Broward State Attorney’s Office when she was accused of fraud — walked out of the Broward County main jail singing gospel music on Saturday evening in Fort Lauderdale.
While covering her face, Josephine Brown said she did not commit any of the crimes that detectives were accusing her of. She also said the whole experience as a defendant in the judicial system was traumatizing.
“We didn’t get 50 cents out of the deal,” said Brown, 65, adding, “I never did any crime. I have always been faithful to my job. I love my job.”
According to the SAO, she started working for the office on March 8, 2001, and she was a legal secretary in a unit that handles mental health-related felonies when she surrendered to Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies on Friday.
Brown was set to retire at the end of August when the SAO suspended her without pay on Friday. Detectives accused her and her son DeBarris Luke James of taking advantage of a 94-year-old man with dementia.
According to an arrest report, surveillance video shows Brown and James visited the victim late last year at a skilled nursing facility and had him sign a quit claim deed making James an owner of a commercial real estate property.
“[The victim] was not cognizant of what he had signed due to his health status,” Deputy Joseph F. Sommovigo wrote, according to the arrest report.
The victim suffered from cognitive decline and was under his daughter’s guardianship. According to Sommovigo, Brown was aware and notarized the quit claim deed anyway on Nov. 3.
“I tried to call his family to make sure the man was doing the right thing,” Brown said outside the jail.
According to Sommovigo, Brown knew her son wanted the property in his name to open a new corporation.
When the deed was recorded on Nov.7, the Broward County Property Appraisers Office estimated the property value at $200,000, according to the police report.
Before Brown surrendered, the SAO had already asked Gov. Ron DeSantis to reassign the case and DeSantis signed the order on June 4 assigning the real estate fraud case to The Twelfth Judicial Circuit.
Brown is facing a charge of obtaining property over $50,000 by fraud and exploitation of the elderly of $100,000 or more. A judge set her bond at $15,000.
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editors Joyce Grace Ortega and Stephany Heilbron contributed to this report.
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