Cops: Unwitting Homebuyers Face F'closure After Seller Pockets $100K In Sale Proceeds Due To Lienholder; Title Insurer's Police Report Triggers Probe

In Monroe County, Pennsylvania, the Pocono Record reports:

• The owner of Signature Real Estate in East Stroudsburg was charged Friday with falsely reporting a property he owned as being mortgage-free, selling that property and then keeping the money from the sale for himself. Eric Kerchner, a detective with the Monroe County District Attorney's Office, arrested John E. Fitzmorris, 55, of Stroud Township, who was then placed in Monroe County Correctional Facility in lieu of $10,000 bail.

• Kerchner began an investigation after a Stewart Title Guarantee Co. representative on Feb. 17 reported a theft of $99,674.25. The investigation revealed the following:
  
  In November 2001, Moises T. Ramos bought a 161 E. Wood Drive, Penn Estates, property with a Wells Fargo home mortgage.
  
  In February 2007, Ramos sold the property to Fitzmorris with the understanding that Fitzmorris would pay off the mortgage in one lump sum, but Fitzmorris did not do so and continued making monthly payments on that mortgage.
  
  In November 2008, Fitzmorris sold the property to Eltrice and Rawle Davidson. At the closing, Fitzmorris submitted a false owner's affidavit that did not list the Wells Fargo mortgage and received $99,674.25 from Bank of America, the Davidsons' mortgage company. He kept that money as if it were his own, instead of using it to pay off the Wells Fargo mortgage. He also stopped making the monthly Wells Fargo loan payments on the property.
  
  Wells Fargo later initiated a mortgage foreclosure action against the Davidsons as the property owners and against Ramos as the mortgage holder.

• Charged with theft and tampering with public records, Fitzmorris will appear in district court at a future date.

Source: Eastburg Realtor charged in theft case.