A HOMEOWNER was a victim of a shocking identity theft that allowed the scammers squatting in her home to sell the house without her knowledge. 

D’Andrea Turner woke up one morning to find that the home she shares with her now ex-husband, Keith, had been sold online unbeknownst to either of them. 

The Turners’ title to their Phoenix home was even published on the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office official website, local ABC affiliate KNXV reported.

“That is not my name, and that’s not my signature,” D’Andrea told the outlet. 

“How does this happen? At what point that someone didn’t do their job?”

Police discovered that the Turner’s vacant Arizona home was broken into by squatters Aaron Polmanteer, 51, and Lledera Hollen, 37, who then took on the couple’s identity.

Polmanteer and Hollen gained access to essential documents inside the home and went on to forge other signatures needed to sell the house.

“The property did have documents in it of the true homeowners, and they assumed the identity of the homeowners and turned around and produced fraudulent identification,” said James Carrieres, who investigates document fraud for the Phoenix Police Department.

The two intruders contacted a third-party real estate contractor who promoted the home to investors. 

After the house was up for sale, Polmanteer and Hollen received an offer from two investors willing to buy the property for $200,000.

The buyers told KNXV that they followed all necessary precautions–they toured the home twice and met the squatters, whom they believed to be the homeowners.

“Squatters stole my house,” D’Andrea said. “They actually moved in, posed as me, and sold my house.”

D’Andrea said the experience feels “surreal,” and it surpasses her wildest expectations.

“I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone. 

“Really, I didn’t even think something like this could happen.”

Polmanteer and Hollen met their downfall when they were unable to deposit checks in the rightful homeowners’ names. 

The investors who bought the home are still trying to get their money back.

“[The scammers are] brazen and bold for what they did,” Carrieres said.

Why squatting is such a complicated problem

Squatters can be a real headache for property owners as they can move in at any time – so vacant homes need constant monitoring – and once they’re in they can be hard to move.

While tenants are invited onto a property with consent, if they stop paying, they don’t in effect become squatters, because there are legal protections and processes landlords need to undertake to evict them.

While squatters are uninvited guests, they are afforded similar protections and property owners have to undertake a legal process to get them out.

While squatters are in effect trespassing, which is illegal, they are innocent until proven guilty, so the process of eviction can become time consuming if they refuse to come to the door and engage. The laws for removing someone are different for both, adding further complication.

Property owners who attempt to remove squatters by force may expose themselves to a potential lawsuit for harassment or assault, so the advice is generally to play it by the book.

Squatters also have rights, known as adverse possession, under the law which allows an individual to occupy a property and remain there without the owner’s permission.

And If they stay long enough they can even, eventually, claim ownership.

Shockingly, this type of identity fraud is relatively common in the real estate business.

Pioneer Title Agency, which is listed on the warranty deed, told KNXV that they field dozens of similar cases per week and somehow let this case slip through the cracks.

The agency said these cases typically come from fraudsters abroad. 

“In this case, the title company is literally responsible for paying back the investor all of his money, getting the title reverted back to the homeowner, as well as establishing loans that were there,” Carrieres said.

Carrieres warned owners of vacant homes and raw land to stay vigilant as they are most likely to be impacted by these scams.

The officer mentioned that all counties have a title alert system where homeowners will be notified anytime their name or business appears on a processed title. 

“That should put people on alert to know if, out of the blue, you suddenly get a notice from our office saying something has been filed in your name, then you have the opportunity to call our office, contact law enforcement and put a stop to it,” said Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap.

The Turners still own their Phoenix home, but D’Andrea still receives mail addressed to the squatters every now and then.