That stranger, Dawn Mangum, is now charged with the felony of attempting to obtain property under false pretenses, and an assistant district attorney in court said there's a possibility of more charges against her.
Mangum made her first court appearance on the charge on Tuesday. Since she was in jail, she appeared in court through a video conference. Mangum is charged with attempting to obtain property under false pretenses after she says she obtained the warranty deed to Craig Adams' 8,300-square-foot home in North Raleigh.
Adams was in court to witness the proceedings and, for the first time, see the woman accused of trying to take his home.
"A little bit of relief, but you know, it's still a nightmare to try and unwind this mess," he said.
SEE ALSO | Complete stranger obtains deed to $4M Raleigh home without homeowner's knowledge
Complete stranger obtains deed to $4M Raleigh home without homeowner's knowledge
Prosecutors said the warranty deed was filed by Mangum on August 12 with the Wake County Register of Deeds office. Adams said he only learned about Mangum getting the deed in her name after the property management company for his HOA asked if he sold his home. They were asking because Mangum contacted them to get gate access, as his home sits in a private gated community.
Adams said he believes Mangum's goal was to squat in his home.
"What happens to the people that don't find out their houses had a false claim warranty deed, and then the person gets a tax statement and then they end up in their house," Adams said.
When Troubleshooter Diane Wilson spoke to Mangum last week, she said everything was done by law as she thought the property was in foreclosure and she believes by law you can claim an abandoned property. Once she learned the property wasn't in foreclosure, she said she stopped all paperwork.
Adams said foreclosure was noted on an online listing website, but it was a mistake and corrected.
In court, Mangum didn't make any statements, except to ask for a public defender. That public defender argued for her bond to be lowered. He said Mangum is not a flight risk, as she has three children and has no prior felony convictions.
The judge denied that request, instead upping it to $150,000 due to an assistant district attorney saying there could be more charges against Mangum.
As for Adams and the warranty deed Mangum filed on his property, he said he knows he still owns his home and the deed Mangum filed on his home will not show up on a title search if he sells his property. Still, he has filed a civil lawsuit against Mangum.
He said the only way to undo Mangum's warranty deed is for a judge to hear the case and rule it's fraudulent.
"I don't want another person's -- that's a criminal -- name on my house. I suspect you wouldn't either. Most people's homes are probably their most valuable asset and, you know, I have the means, thankfully, to hire a great attorney and help me with this and defend myself, but what happens to the people that don't."
Adams said he is hoping to prevent this from happening to others by working with North Carolina lawmakers to advocate for a legislative fix. He wants to see a change in state law that makes it easier to get a fraudulent deed off the record and undo it, without having to go through the court system.
"I think there are some commonsense laws that need to come down the legislature to provide some realistic checks and balances or some way to remove this false filing once you know it's there. But again, I got lucky because my property management person called me because she tried to get into my property. But what about people that don't have that?"
As for Mangum, she is due back in court in October on the current charge.
Wake County Registry of Deeds released the following statement about the case:
The Register of Deeds office is taking this situation very seriously, and is committed to assisting the homeowner in any way possible within the scope of the law.
Under North Carolina law, Registers of Deeds are statutorily obligated to accept and immediately register documents in conformity with G.S. 161-14. The Register of Deeds is not required to verify the legal validity of a deed when it is presented for registration, nor are they required to verify the credentials or legal standing of the notary or drafter of the document (G.S. 47-14). With more than 500 documents processed through the Wake County Register of Deeds office daily, it would be impossible to verify the legitimacy of each document or the credentials of each notary, nor does the Register of Deeds office have access to a database of commissioned North Carolina notaries to check against.
Register of Deeds staff are not attorneys and are explicitly barred from giving legal advice or from acting as an attorney in verifying a document.
As soon as the Register of Deeds office became aware of the fraudulent deed, it alerted the Tax Administration office that no tax information for the property should be changed. Register of Deeds staff also immediately notified and is working with the Wake County Sheriff's Office. The homeowner was also encouraged to file a police report.
The Wake County Register of Deeds office offers a free fraud alert system. When documents are recorded with a name that is being monitored, the property owner will be immediately notified that an action has taken place on their property. In this particular situation, the homeowner's name was not included as the drafter or the Grantor or Grantee on the document, so the alerts were not triggered. The document also hasn't been indexed in the homeowner's name. You can learn more about the free fraud alerts here.
Because the deed has been recorded, the Register of Deeds office does not have the authority under North Carolina state law to remove the document from the record without a court order. Wake County will gladly cooperate with any criminal law enforcement investigation or civil proceeding that is initiated on the homeowner's behalf.
How do you prevent this from happening to your property?
You should check with your county's Register of Deeds Office and figure out if you can sign up for fraud alerts.
Fraud alerts won't stop the deed transfer from happening, but they will notify you immediately after anything is recorded that involves your name. That would at least ensure that you are notified and could stop something more from happening.
For Wake County, you can do that here. You can also check with your homeowner's insurance company or a title insurance company, as some do offer fraud coverage for an additional cost.