Participant In Alleged "King Solomon" Sovereign Movement, Home Hijacking Racket Targeting Vacant Foreclosed Homes Escapes Forgery-Related Convictions

A California Court of Appeals recently reversed all forgery-related convictions of Maurice Antoine Simmons, a participant in the alleged King Solomon II(1) (not to be confused with the original King Solomon of Biblical fame) home-snatching scam involving vacant foreclosed houses in the San Diego-area.(2)

The trial court, which originally sentenced Simmons to prison for two years eight months, now gets the case back for resentencing on the remaining convictions of filing a false instrument (six counts), conspiracy to file a false instrument (one count), and (this one's the biggie, folks!) driving with a suspended license (one count).(3)

Source: People v. Simmons, No. D056165 (Cal. App. 4th Dist. Div. 1, September 27, 2010).

(1) In footnote 2 of its ruling, the appeals court notes that King Solomon II prefers to use a copyright symbol at the end of his name (i.e., King Solomon II ©) and legally changed his name from Terry Lee Herron.

(2) The appeals court summarized Simmons' role in the scam as follows:

• In mid-2008, Simmons became acquainted with a man known as King Solomon II. Simmons paid $5,000 to King Solomon II so that he could learn about the concepts of "sovereignty" and "common law," on which King Solomon II purports to be an expert.

• While being mentored by King Solomon II, Simmons came to believe that he could become a sovereign by surrendering his birth certificate to the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, among other things, and that under his sovereign status he could claim abandoned real estate as his own, even if the real estate was bank owned pursuant to a foreclosure process.

• According to Simmons, the process of obtaining ownership of abandoned properties under the concepts of "sovereignty" and "common law" involved posting a notice on the properties or on a courthouse bulletin board, and then — after waiting 30 days — recording a grant deed on the property, changing the locks, turning on the utilities, and removing the mailbox and the street numbers from the property.

• In October 2008, Simmons, with the participation of King Solomon II, caused grant deeds to be recorded in the San Diego County Recorder's office for six properties. Specifically, each grant deed stated that Simmons was conveying the property at issue to Sovereign Solomon Brothers Archbishop Corporation Sole, which is a Nevada corporation created by King Solomon II. The grant deeds were signed by Simmons and notarized.

• Simmons did not have the ability to convey the properties because he did not own any of them. Three were owned by banks after having been acquired through a foreclosure process. Three were owned by individuals.

• However, the county recorder's office does not determine whether a grant deed presented for recording is a valid legal document. It looks only for recordability. As the six grant deeds met the technical requirements, they were recorded, and Simmons began to take possession of the properties. According to Simmons, he and King Solomon II planned to turn the properties into "sanctuaries" for homeless families.

(3) For earlier posts on the alleged King Solomon II, sovereign movement home-snatching racket, see:

• California Man Gets 32 Months For Filing Phony Deeds To Illegally Claim Title To Homes In Foreclosure,
• California Man Says "Prove It" To Multiple San Diego-Area Mansion-Stealing, Deed Theft Allegations; Local Authorities Notice Phony Deed Filing Trend.