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A man who spent three years building his dream home had his dream shattered after it was stolen by criminals.
Dunedin resident John Witt Jenkins originally bought the plot of land for just $15,000 in 1998 and from 2003, built the entire two-story house brick-by-brick.
As many homeowners do, especially when making extensive changes to the property, Jenkins did on occasion check the current price his house could sell for.
But when he checked his current listing in 2019... he discovered that it was telling him his own house had been recently sold.
Doing some investigation, Jenkins found out at the County Property Appraisers Office that documents had actually been filed - including a deed for the house with his forged signature selling the house he'd built.
The Appraisers Office said they had no footage of the criminals signing over this deed, as it had all been done online and electronically. The deed filed, however, was deemed fake by the Sheriff's office, as was the notary stamp that made the sale 'official'.
"They just gave him my house," Jenkins told WFLA News. "On maybe about two hours work by electronically transmitting those documents."
However, this story does have a happy ending. It may have taken two months, but Jenkins did eventually get his house back.
Four years after the initial deed fraud took place, authorities finally chased down the man responsible - a real estate broker called Michael Bogsted was arrested and charged with a "scheme to defraud".
Authorities say that Jenkins was not Bogsted's only victim. In fact, Jenkins' house was actually just one of at least six houses that he managed to steal with similar tactics.
Part of his work was to forge deeds and fictitious mortgage documents to transfer ownership of the houses to various entities.
Once this was completed, Bogsted could then either take out a mortgage on the home or sell it to an unsuspecting buyer.
Bogsted pleaded not guilty to the charges and his lawyers said he had "no comment" when approached.
But what can you do to make sure this deed fraud doesn't happen to you?
The key is to find out as soon as possible whether fraudulent paperwork has been filed by someone attempting to steal your house out from under you.
