A Harris County Attorney has filed a lawsuit seeking $1 million in damages on behalf of victims of "home title theft."
Attorney Christian Menefee filed the lawsuit earlier this week against two men of the Greater Houston area. They are accused of stealing people's homes right from under them.
The crime known as home title theft is when criminals file a deed to someone's home in a name that is not of the homeowner and doing so without the homeowner knowing about it.
Legal analyst Chris Tritico said this type of crime has become a growing problem in recent years with anyone regardless of age becoming victims to it. One of the victims includes Wanda Jackson, a 70-year-old former HISD teacher.
"Before you figure out what's going on, your home has been deeded to somebody else," he said. "Quite frankly, anyone who's not paying attention to their property is vulnerable."
The big question in this case is do the alleged criminals still have the money that was stolen from the victims after falsifying the paperwork on their home.
"They may have filed the deeds, sold the homes and pocketed cash out of their scheme to swindle people out of their homes," said Tritico.
Checking your deed records is simple and easy and doesn't require any money to be spent, according to Tritico. Although, there are services available that will notify homeowners if something happens to their home title. Folks in Harris County can also check their records at the Clerk's Office website.