An Indiana man was found guilty of trying to use forged documents to sell a home he did not own.
The Star Press reports 27-year-old Phoenix Mathis Hale was found guilty by a jury of fraud, attempted theft, counterfeiting and possession of meth.
Hale was arrested in July 2025 after the recorder’s officer in Delaware County, Indiana, received a report from a resident who said someone was trying to sell her property without her knowledge. Investigators discovered Hile filed a notarized quit claim deed that named him as the property’s owner.
When the property’s owners and sheriff’s deputies encountered Hile at the property, he claimed he obtained the property “though the city.” Hile also insisted the fake signatures on the documents weren’t his because he didn’t know how to write in cursive.
When Hile was taken into custody, deputies found a plastic bag containing 2 grams of meth in his pants pocket. Hile claimed that the pants he was wearing were not his. (No, we’re not making that last part up – he really said it.)
The jury took four hours of deliberation to convict Hile, who will be sentenced on May 27. He is being held in the Delaware County Jail.
Photo courtesy of the Delaware County Prosecutors’ Office
0 Comments