Texas Man Pleads Guilty To Using Forged Deeds, Heirship Affidavits To Rip Off Real Estate From The Elderly & Recently Deceased

In Fort Worth, Texas, the Arlington Citizen-Journal reports:

• An Arlington man who stole real estate from the recently deceased and elderly pleaded guilty [] to three counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

• Norris Lynn Fisher, 62, faces up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and restitution on each count. Government documents say Fisher acquired at least 100 properties in Tarrant County valued at more than $1 million. Fisher remains in prison. He made a plea agreement with the government that ensures he will cooperate in identifying assets to help make restitution and return properties to the rightful owners.

• Fisher used forgery and elaborate property transfers to illegally acquire dozens of lots and unoccupied properties from January 2004 through this February, according to court documents.

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• [In one case, a] woman owned three Fort Worth properties that had been "fraudulently conveyed" to a California woman in June 2008, according to court documents. A notary listed on property records told officials that her signature and notary stamp had been forged. (In a July 2009 raid at Fisher's home, authorities seized seven notary stamps, according to court documents.)

For more, see Arlington man pleads guilty in real estate thefts.

For the U.S. Attorney (Northern District of Texas) press release, see Fort Worth Man Admits Running Scheme To Fraudulently Obtain Real Estate (Norris Fisher Faces Up to 80 Years in Federal Prison):

• Fisher conducted research and identified various distressed properties. Fisher preferred to target unoccupied properties or vacant lots belonging to elderly individuals and individuals who had recently died. After he identified a property that he wanted to illegally acquire, Fisher paid people to forge signatures and created a forged warranty deed that fraudulently reflected a transfer of the property from its true owner to a fictitious person.

• If the true owner of the property was deceased, he would create a fraudulent heirship affidavit which falsely claimed that a fictitious person was the heir to the deceased property owner, and therefore entitled to inherit the property.