Widespread Housing Scheme Included Lawrence Properties: Police

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP, NJ — A total of 12 people have been charged in n elaborate scheme in which they were illegally living in numerous vacant and foreclosed homes in Mercer County, including Lawrence Township, Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri announced on Friday.

They were all charged with burglary, theft of services, failure to make lawful disposition and criminal mischief as part of the large-scale ring that included properties in Ewing, Hamilton, Lawrence and Princeton, most of which were bank owned.

Barbara Brooks, 48, of Trenton, has been identified as the alleged leader of the ring, Onofri said. She would find the foreclosed and vacant properties and produce fake leases for them. She then recruited the other 11 people charged in this ring, and instructed them on the ins-and-outs of the complex process, including what to say to police when they showed up at the door.

Trenton Water Works employee Michael Wilmore, 44 of Florence, was recruited to turn on the water supply to the various properties, authorities allege.

At one property, on Sabrina Drive in Ewing, 32-year-old Latasha Love lived rent-free for months in a foreclosed home, Onofri said. After she was arrested, she moved into a home in Princeton, but told 32-year-old Rasheeda Harris to move in and take over the "lease" in Ewing.

Love was arrested again trying to move back in a second time, and at some point was allegedly paid to leave the Sabrina Drive residence by the real estate agency, Onofri said. She has also been hit with similar charges in Yardley, Pennsylvania. Earlier this week, she was charged with perjury, theft by deception and other falsifying complaints.

She was initially arrested and charged in Princeton for occupying a home on Lawrenceville Road, Onofri said. On Sunday, the property manager contacted Princeton police to tell them someone was in the home when they shouldn't be. Police arrived to find Love in the residence.

She presented police with an order signed by a judge and verified as a real order, but when the Mercer County Prosecutor's Economic Crime Unit (ECU) looked further into the matter, it discovered that Love e filed a motion with the court against a real estate agent who was previously the listing agent, Onofri said.

She created a fraudulent lease using the name of the previous owner as the renter, and provided false information in the motion and again on the record in court. The other people charged in the case are:

• Endiya Thompson, 21, of Sicklerville;
• Shea Lightfoot, 38, of Willingboro;
• Dominique Morgan, 31, of Hamilton;
• Tarrik Boles, 36, of Hamilton;
• Shauntee Stokes, 40, of Trenton;
• Sandra Freeman, 49, of Hamilton; and
• Eddie Thompson, 45, of Trenton.

The issue dates back to 2016, when Trenton and county officials formed the Fraudulent Housing Occupancy Task Force and held multiple meetings to discuss the problem. They warned residents of the scam back in October of 2016. Similar meetings were held in Ewing. Lawrence and Hamilton then began reporting similar issues.

In the fall of last year, ECU held a meeting with municipal police to discuss the magnitude of the problem and different ways to deal with it. At that time, the same names and techniques started to emerge, and ECU Detective Zachary Ortman was placed in charge of creating a uniform approach, and developing tools and resources to address the issue from a county perspective.

"This was a massive, complex investigative and legal undertaking," Onofri said. "Detectives spent countless hours conducting surveillance, studying the eviction process and adverse possession, and combing through social media in order to obtain crucial evidence that allowed them to connect the dots and identify the many scam artists involved."

Different variations of the scheme were discovered, but they all had commonalities. Scammers were locating vacant homes - either foreclosed, for sale or abandoned properties - and breaking in. They would change the locks, illegally turn on utilities, create fake lease documents, and move in themselves or rent the properties out to unsuspecting individuals. When property managers or bank inspectors would stop by the houses to examine or show them, they would find occupants in what should have been vacant homes and notify local police.

"These are brazen criminals who educated themselves on squatters' rights and took advantage of the civil court process," Onofri said. "This created a challenge for local police who were being called out to the homes. Occupants were providing legal-looking leases and cash receipts for rent, and there would be conflicting versions of who had the right to be there."

In some instances, illegal occupants were even receiving "cash for keys" payments, where a bank would pay the inhabitant to leave the property rather than go through the eviction process in civil court. Such payments could be anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, but ultimately cost the bank or real estate agency less than hiring attorneys to handle the matter in court, which could take as long as three months.

"Thanks to the collaborative efforts of our police departments in Mercer County, we were able to identify multiple individuals that moved from squatting in one town to another. We were also able to identify those individuals involved in a more sophisticated rental scheme," Onofri said. "In light of the rampant scams that were being committed, this office took an aggressive charging position in Mercer County."

In Hamilton Township alone, police investigated approximately 50 incidents in a 14-month period.

"I appreciate the coordinated effort of the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office and all agencies involved in addressing this nationwide problem," Hamilton Police Chief James W. Collins said.

"I am pleased with the outcome of this investigation," Ewing Police Chief John Stemler III said. "It was a team effort between the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office, Hamilton police and our Community Response Unit that led to the arrest of those running a housing scam affecting every township in the county. Residents should still remain vigilant and report suspicious activity with unoccupied houses to the local police department."

Onofri urged real estate and property management companies to call their local police when someone is inside a foreclosed or real-estate-owned property.

"There is a misconception that owners need to go through the eviction process when there is an occupant unlawfully inside," Onofri said. "That holds true when a tenant has a valid lease; then the eviction process must be followed. Without a valid lease, the situation becomes criminal."

The arrests are the result of an investigation lead by Detectives Zachary Ortman and David Petelle of the Mercer County Prosecutor's Economic Crime Unit, under the supervision of Sgt. Joe Angarone and Sgt. Eric Hastings, with assistance from Officers Danielle Bethea, Kevin Hoarn, Michael Pellegrino, Matt Przemieniecki, Sgt. Michael Flynn, Lt. Jeff Caldwell, Capt. Rocco Maruca of the Ewing Police Department, under the direction of Chief John Stemler III, and Detectives Matthew Bagley, Thomas Clugsten, Scott Marshall, Christopher Pullen, Salvatore Vaccaro, Det. Sgt. Joseph Wilk, of the Hamilton Police Division, under the direction of Chief James W. Collins.

Onofri also thanked the following law enforcement agencies and all of their members who provided support and resources:

• Lawrence Township Police Department;
• Princeton Police Department;
• Trenton Police Department;
• Mercer County Sheriff's Office; and
• U.S. Marshals Service NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force.

The attached chart was provided by the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office