County Transferred His Land on a Forged Power of Attorney While He Was Abroad
County Transferred His Land on a Forged Power of Attorney While He Was Abroad
County Transferred His Land on a Forged Power of Attorney, Then a Judge Opened His Passport
Preview
A property owner returned from a four-month trip abroad helping his daughter with a newborn to find strangers building a fence on his land. The county had transferred the title using a notarized power of attorney executed while he was out of the country. However, the judge quickly unraveled the scheme by checking the passport stamps, exposing the blatant forgery and restoring the land to its rightful owner.
The Shocking Discovery Abroad
The nightmare began when a homeowner spent four months across the ocean helping care for a new grandchild. Upon returning home, he was stunned to find unfamiliar individuals erecting a fence on his property, claiming they had legally purchased the land.
Seeking answers from the county, he was presented with official documentation showing that a representative had sold the property on his behalf using a notarized power of attorney. The homeowner immediately contested the claim, maintaining that he had never signed any such document and was physically outside the country on the date the paperwork was supposedly notarized.
The County’s Flawed Defense
During the court proceedings, county officials defended the transaction, arguing that the title transfer was registered in strict compliance with the paperwork provided. They insisted that all formal requirements had been met and that there were no initial grounds to question the authenticity of the power of attorney at the time of the registry entry.
The Judge Checks the Passport
The entire fraudulent transaction collapsed the moment the presiding judge examined the physical evidence. By opening the plaintiff’s foreign passport, the court verified a departure stamp on April 4th and a return entry stamp on August 8th.
Comparing those dates directly to the power of attorney, the judge noted that the document bore a notarization date of June 12th—a time when the homeowner was indisputably thousands of miles away.
“On that day the plaintiff was physically abroad across the ocean. He could not have appeared before a notary on June 12th. The power of attorney is forged. The county registered the transaction without checking whether the person was even in the country. The transfer is annulled.”
Final Judgment and Restitution
Finding the county grossly negligent for registering a land sale without verifying the owner’s physical presence or identity, the court completely annulled the transfer. The land was formally restored to the rightful owner, the county was ordered to pay $80,000 in damages, and the entire forgery case was referred directly to the prosecutor’s office for criminal investigation.
