The Broward County Property Appraiser and Broward County Sheriff arrested Tyrone Jones, Michael Dupree, and Yury Domatov after an investigation into a real estate property theft criminal enterprise involving $12 million of property in Broward County, Fla.
Broward County Commissioner Tim Ryan alerted Broward County Property Appraiser Marty Kiar when one of his clients was visiting a property he owned in Dania Beach and ran into the fraudsters who were posing as the owners of the property. This chance meeting started the long-term investigation that unraveled the scheme to defraud innocent property owners. During the scheme, the trio and other co-conspirators filed civil lawsuits against elderly victims, multiple banks, and others. In court documents, they indicated the properties were dilapidated eyesores and uninhabitable. They filed a lawsuit against a 76-year-old widow who lived in Dania Beach in an attempt to steal her home. The lawsuit alleged the home was abandoned and poorly maintained. The property was in good condition and was the elderly victim’s home for over 26 years.
Some of the lawsuits were against banks for bank-owned property. Instead of serving the actual banks with the lawsuits, the lawsuits identified Dupree, a convicted felon, as the bank’s agent authorized to accept service of the lawsuits on behalf of the banks. Dupree allegedly posed as the representative for the banks and accepted service of process at a dilapidated mobile home in Hillsborough County, Fla.
The banks, which included U.S. Bank, Deutsche Bank, and Bank of Mellon, were never actually served with these lawsuits. The cohorts then filed fraudulent court documents posing as representatives of the banks and others in which they would tell the court that they did not want the properties. In other cases, after fraudulently accepting service of process allegedly on behalf of the banks, they never filed responsive pleadings. As a result, the courts awarded the properties to members of the criminal enterprise. In most cases, the banks never even knew these properties were stolen from under them or taken over by the trio of alleged criminals and their co-conspirators.
In at least three cases, the three main subjects moved in and made these properties their homes. One even attempted to register for the Broward County Property Appraiser’s Owner Alert Program, which notifies verified property owners when a deed or other documents are received by the property appraiser transferring ownership of their home.
All three arrestees are charged with multiple crimes involving deed fraud, filing fraudulent court filings, first degree grand theft and identity theft.
Kiar and Sheriff Gregory Tony thanked Chief Patrick Lynn, of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, and State Attorney Harold Pryor for their assistance and dedication by providing resources for the investigations.