A Missouri man has pleaded not guilty to two separate indictments of conspiring to steal or try to steal 16 homes and a duplex with bogus deeds.
James L. Townes Jr. of the St. Louis suburb of Berkeley was indicted by a grand jury on June 25 with one count of mail fraud, one count of access device fraud, one count of unlawful production of an authentication feature, four counts of identity theft and four counts of aggravated identity theft. A superseding indictment on Aug. 6 charged Townes with a total of 25 counts, including conspiracy, mail fraud, access device fraud, fraudulently effecting transactions, unlawful production of an authentication feature, identity theft and aggravated identity theft. Townes was also indicted in a separate case on Aug. 6 with one count of mail fraud, five counts of wire fraud and four counts of theft of government funds.
The superseding indictment accuses Townes and Charnay Bartlett of using a series of deeds to fraudulently transfer the ownership of 16 residences and a duplex between September 2018 and April 2025. According to the charges against them, Townes and Bartlett stole the identities of the properties’ true owners, then fraudulently notarized the documents and forged signatures to perpetuate the transfers. Townes continued to fraudulently transfer the properties after his notary license was suspended.
The second indictment accused Townes of falsely claiming to be disabled since February 2017. Townes claimed not to have a bank account or any resources and also insisted that he could not walk more than five or 10 steps, do any household chores or lift, squat, bend, climb stairs, concentrate or complete tasks. However, the indictment stated that during this period of alleged disability Townes ran Tied Tight Entertainment and acted as the registered agent of 13 other LLCs, owned two investment accounts, became commissioned as a notary public and filed property deeds.
Townes’ comrade Bartlett faces one count of conspiracy, one count of fraudulently effecting transactions, four counts of unlawful production of an authentication feature and four counts of identity theft. Trial dates for both men have yet to be scheduled.
I hope they get convicted, and serve at least 5 years in prison. We have to start making examples of people perpetrating these despicable acts of fraud. Real estate theft is serious , and I wonder about the hell the rightful owners have to go through to make things right again.
So after they get convicted they’ll spend a few years in the country club prison for white collar criminals and are supposed to pay restitution, but they can pay very little of that back.
This is an example of the dual system in our criminal “injustice system”