She may have been hoodwinked out of the neighborhood.
A woman is alleging that an ex-con and his sons stole her three-bedroom Tudor family home in Laurelton with a fake deed transfer, according a published report.
Jennifer Merin is fighting in court to remove Darrell Beatty and his two sons from the home, while a criminal investigation is ongoing as to whether there is a crime ring behind fake deeds, The New York Post reported Sunday.
Merin was raised in the house with her mother and inherited the residence decades ago after her mother died, according to The Post. She now lives in Manhattan and never rented the property, but paid the utilities and maintained it as “a sanctuary” to her family, the paper reported.
A jump in the water bill signaled to Merin something fishy was going on with the house.
She called cops and learned the Beatty family had moved into the house and said it legally belonged to them and when she went to the residence herself, she realized her possessions and car were missing and the locks where changed, according to The Post.
Beatty said in court papers that he rented the house from someone named Khalid Moore and paid $10,000 in rent, the newspaper said.
A deed transfer filed in city records last year showed that he obtained the house from an “Edith Moore.”
The Finance Department confirmed the deed was fake, The Post reported.
Beatty has not been charged with a crime.
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