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This man robbed 19 homes in Cuyahoga County. How is this possible?

This man robbed 19 homes in Cuyahoga County. How is this possible?

CLEVELAND — It’s been a never-ending headache for Dr. Maria Armstrong.

For the past three years, she has worked to get her rental property back in Cleveland after learning from investigators that a fraudulent deed transfer document had been completed and filed with the county in October 2021 by someone she had never met.

News 5

Dr. Maria Armstrong examines a stack of documents, highlighting how her rental property was stolen.

“He forged my signature, and he also forged a notary’s signature,” Armstrong said. “And those two fake signatures were enough to transfer the title to his name.”

In 2023, a grand jury indicted Michael Prince for stealing 19 properties involving different owners in Cuyahoga County.

News 5

A copy of the fraudulent waiver claim document filed with Cuyahoga County, including a signature that matches the normal signature of Dr. Maria Armstrong.

“He was very complex about the houses he stole,” Armstrong said. “He stole from houses that had no liens on them, and he stole from dead people’s houses.”

During this time, Prince worked as a construction superintendent at CHN Housing Partners, which helps build homes for people in need. None of the properties involved were owned or connected to CHN. A CHN spokesperson told News 5 that Prince resigned from the nonprofit in 2021 when leaders first became aware of his legal issues.

Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department

A March 2023 booking photo of Michael Prince, provided by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department.

Investigators confirmed to News 5 that in six of the cases where Prince stole a home, a quitclaim deed was signed by someone who was already deceased.

A quitclaim deed, as it is called, is a simple legal document often used to transfer property between family members or during a divorce.

In July, News 5 reported on another separate case involving a different perpetrator in which a property was fraudulently signed over by an owner six months after their death.

RELATED: Here’s how someone could easily steal your real estate property – and what you can do to prevent it.

Here’s how someone could easily steal your real estate property – and what you can do to prevent it.

Afterward, investigators told News 5 that Prince, through an LLC, would sell the property to someone else, pocket the profits and pass on the problem before his victims even noticed the property no longer belonged to them.

Wait, so why isn’t he in jail?

Prince pleaded guilty last year but never showed up for sentencing, which carried a sentence of up to 29 years in prison.

A warrant was issued for his arrest, leaving his victims moving to try to reclaim their properties and prove they should still own their homes.

In Armstrong’s case, Prince signed a quitclaim deed, claiming the house was sold to him for $40,000. Records show Prince then sold the property to another LLC for $60,000 that same month. Online real estate estimates put the house at $270,000 in 2024.

“I still don’t own my own house,” Armstrong said. “I had (the property) titled in my name and I have to pay taxes on the house, but I don’t have possession of it.”

For Armstrong, this is not about appropriate punishment or justice. It’s about the time she lived in limbo.

“I thought stolen items were returned to you as soon as they were found,” Armstrong said. “But with houses, it’s a different matter because there are so many court systems involved. I don’t think I’m interested in what happens to (Michael Prince) because I think I just want to get back my house.”

Armstrong said she purchased her first rental property in 2001 and never encountered a problem like this. She said she did not notice the fraudulent transfer of ownership for several months when an investigator contacted her. She said she even had tenants living inside at the time.

“That’s what the American dream is about, is wealth creation,” Armstrong said. “You want to own a house and give it to your kids without having a mortgage on them. And I don’t know if that’s an ideal situation. If so, it burned me a little bit.”

If you have any information on Prince’s whereabouts, you are asked to contact the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department at 216-443-6000.

The increase in stolen property crimes

Experts say it’s a crime that’s happening more often. Scammers forge documents and transfer the property to someone else to sell it quickly for a profit.

“I don’t think anyone saw this coming,” Cuyahoga County Real Estate Services Director Brian O’Malley told News 5 earlier this year. “It’s slowly accelerating.”

Here’s why it’s getting easier to steal from someone’s house — and what you can do about it.

What you can *and should* do to prevent this from happening to you.

Most counties in Ohio offer free real estate alerts, which notify property owners whenever your personal or entity name is used in a real estate filing in the county.

To learn more about real estate alerts in Cuyahoga County, click here.

If you’re a home buyer, purchase title insurance to ensure you don’t end up with a home with numerous legal issues.

For Armstrong, she hopes to see her case resolved soon, but understands that’s unlikely.

“This is still going to be in the court system for a while,” she said. “There is no proper system for returning houses to their rightful owners, even if there is evidence that they were stolen. Perhaps the system should probably be fixed so that this doesn’t happen again someone else, because that would be really unfortunate.”

Clay LePard is a special projects reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter @ClayLePardon Facebook Clay LePard News 5 or send him an email to [email protected].

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