Utah Woman Charged With Filing Phony $1M Lien On Home Of Boyfriend's Deceased Wife; Pair Attempted To Rip Off Estate's Heirs, Investigator Says

In Utah County, Utah, Deseret News reports:

• A Pleasant Grove woman accused of working with [...] boyfriend [Martin MacNeill] to steal his adopted daughter's identity faces criminal charges. Gypsy Willis, 33, was charged [...] in 4th District Court with one count of identity fraud, two counts of false and inconsistent material statements and one count of wrongful lien.

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• When MacNeill's wife passed away, the house had been in her name, said Doug Witney, the lead investigator in the case. He said MacNeill had not wanted to go through probate or pay taxes, so instead acted as his deceased wife's attorney, pretended she was still alive and had the property transferred to his name.

• The same day the transaction went through, Witney said, Willis filed a $1 million lien on the house, which is illegal because there was no reason to file the lien. Witney said it was probably done to discourage MacNeill's children from claiming rights to the house because one of his daughters was trying to obtain custody of her three adopted younger sisters at the time. When the federal government realized what was going on, it had an agent act as an intended buyer of the house and a few days after Willis went to remove the lien, she and MacNeill were arrested.

For the story, see Pleasant Grove woman charged in identity theft case. DeedContraTheft deed theft