Two people in Ohio who were charged with deed theft on a house owned by a man with dementia accepted a plea deal ahead of their trial.
The Journal News reports Terry Anderson and Angela Croley each pleaded guilty on June 5 in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court to two felony counts of tampering with records. Their trial was scheduled to begin on June 8, and the plea deal included the dismissal of two additional counts of forgery and theft from a person in a protected class.
According to the charges brought against them, Anderson and Croley forged and filed documents in October 2024 to steal a house from a man in Jefferson Township, Ohio. The pair had the deed notarized after a notary public was given a forged power of attorney document for the homeowner. The document listed Croley was reportedly listed as the homeowner’s power of attorney and the quitclaim deed stated the man’s house was sold to Anderson for $119,000.
The homeowner was diagnosed with dementia and had recently been moved to a nursing home. His daughter contacted the authorities after being alerted to the duo’s actions.
Anderson and Croley remain free on their own recognizance, with Croley to be sentenced July 8 and Anderson to be sentenced July 15.
“The theft of real estate is a very real problem, and this is yet another case of criminals who got caught,” said Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. when announcing their indictment in June 2025. “We will prosecute anyone who files forged paperwork to commit this type of despicable crime. This is unacceptable and it will not be tolerated.”
How low some people will go to cheat another still stuns me! This happened to my mother while I was away at college. “New friends” from church were suddenly her “new family” — her will was changed and everything…did not find out until she passed. Turns out an attorney and his family was doing this over and over to older vulnerable widows and widowers after he had prepared last will and testaments for members of the congregation! Go figure!
Good , another pair of real estate fraudsters getting their due! These folks are despicable losers. She looks like a meth addict. Penalties need to be much harsher for trying to steal someone’s greatest asset.
Truly despicable people. WECIS
I am so tired of seeing charges dropped just to get a plea deal. These scumbags need to serve the full sentance for every crime. ESPECIALLY against a poor senior with dementia!
Yes< I agree, stop slapping these criminals on the hand because the admitted to the crime. The crime was done and they need to do the entire time and get off the streets. People work hard for their assets not to be stolen by people who think they can pull a fast one. What an old pair of losers who have been losers all their freckling lives. The BUMS!! Go straight to jail. Don't pass GO!
Cases involving fraud against homeowners with mental impairments come across my desk frequently. Unfortunately, the agencies and legal mechanisms responsible for investigating and correcting these illegal property transfers are often overwhelmed. Likewise, many of the systems designed to protect elderly and vulnerable homeowners are overburdened, allowing financial exploitation and fraudulent transfers to go undetected or unresolved for extended periods of time.
I have a client that lost their father’s home to a fraudster caretaker last year, they forged deeds, there was a reverse mortgage involved, the property was sold to an associate of the fraudster (somehow they got title insurance on that sale even though there were THREE previous quitclaim deeds with no title insurance on them AND a filed Lis Pendens still active), the fraudster calls my client all hours of the day and night threatening them with bodily harm, the wife is very ill and the stress is about to kill her, and every law enforcement official they’ve talked to is unwilling to help, and I’ve talked to a bunch of lawyers, and not a single one will help because the value of the property is “only” $650,000…too little for them to be bothered with. But all the money in the world to my client. My client found one attorney to take the case, but after getting the lis pendens filed and charging my client every extra dime he had…on the order of $30,000…and getting the case near the finish line suddenly wanted an extra $50,000 or they would stop working on the case. He didn’t have that money, and the lawyer quit.
My experience from this (and my own experience) is that attorneys are just as crooked as the fraudsters. All you can rely on is what the government provides, and that is woefully inadequate in most cases.