Bishop Frank Garris Jr., purchased the Clinton Avenue Presbyterian Church to be the new home for his church – Positive Proof Family Worship Inc. Ramon Hamlett, of Newark, tried to take the church from him when he filed a fraudulent deed claiming to be the pastor and owner.

Bishop Frank Garris Jr. knew something wasn’t right when he tried to do a walk-through of the Newark church he had just closed on.

He wanted to inspect the property, but the alarm at Clinton Avenue Presbyterian Church wouldn’t shut off – even after Garris entered the code to do so.

Newark police arrived and so did Ramon Hamlett, a 35-year-old Newark man claiming to be the pastor.

“He said, ‘What are you doing in my church?’ ” Garris recalled. “I don’t know how long this guy thought he could get away with this.”

What Garris discovered last year was that Hamlett was trying to steal the church property.

But Hamlett didn’t get far when he tried to take over the church by filing a fraudulent deed with information that is easily accessible at the Essex County Register of Deeds and Mortgages in the Hall of Records. He eventually was arrested and later pleaded guilty to theft by deception and tampering, and was sentenced to three years in prison.

What Essex County officials want residents to know is that there are more people out there like him than they would believe, scammers who create and file fraudulent deeds to transfer property titles without owners’ knowledge.

“There are people trying to (commit) a fraudulent act at least twice a week,” said Essex County Register Dana Rone.

She shared the problem with Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex), who turned Rone’s idea into proposed legislation that would notify property owners about any activity on their deeds within six days.

Oliver said the “Property Owners Protection Act” that she introduced yesterday would amend a 1968 state law that governs how deeds are recorded and transferred. The bill now is expected to go into committee for review.

She said it would require anyone walking into a register of deeds office to produce an affidavit of title, which is given to property owners at settlement.

Right now, there isn’t any notification when activity occurs, and too often, Rone said, homeowners don’t know what’s going on with their property until they need their deed for transactions, such as a second mortgage or a home improvement loan.

“It’s the biggest purchase that any average individual makes, and most of us don’t know where our deed is.”

Most of us don’t know this either: Anyone can come to the register of deeds office and access information about your property.

Oliver and Rone said scammers most often target senior citizens when trolling through data to find victims. They create fraudulent deeds by taking the signatures from original deeds to illegally claim ownership of someone else’s property.

Before she took over 16 months ago, Rone said fraudulent documents were not often caught because the staff wasn’t fully reading deed documents to make sure they met necessary criteria.

That’s what happened when Hamlett filed a Quitclaim deed on the church property – to transfer ownership to himself – that Garris was in the process of purchasing.

Rone said additional training has helped her staff to recognize deeds that are not accurate and that the workers take note of people who repeatedly show up with the false information.

“We are more efficient in how we do our recordation and that is how we are discovering the fraud,” Rone said.

Since March, Rone has visited several Essex municipalities to educate the public about how the office works and to encourage residents to visit and check on their property information.

During her roadshow, Rone also explains that the register’s office generates $50 million in revenue annually and handles 37 different legal documents, of which 19 are deeds.

And if they need a certified deed, Rone said resident should not fall for pitches from companies that say they can supply one for $89. Her office only charges $25 for the transaction.

The Ramon Hamletts of the world, however, are out to do harm with fraudulent deeds. Rone said some even use them to obtain bank loans and leave property owners stuck with the debt. Others may try to keep the bank from foreclosing on their property. A family member can attempt to circumvent a will to make himself the sole owner of a relative’s home. An individual could dupe renters at a large apartment building, claiming to be the new owner and telling occupants to redirect payments to him.

If Sheila Oliver’s legislation was in place last year, Rone said, the Presbytery of Newark would have been notified that something was awry when it was about to sell the church to Garris.

When Garris showed his copy of the deed to the property to police officers on July 15, he said, Hamlett produced the Quitclaim deed that indicated he was the owner. Confused, Garris said police officers told them to leave and that both needed to get a judge’s order to determine ownership.

“It’s angering because you have to deal with this foolishness,” Garris said.

Garris said he couldn’t get into his church for two weeks because Hamlett filed a “verified complaint of ejectment” in court to keep him from entering the church.

Hamlett, according to a Newark police report, returned to the church during that time to change the locks and the alarm code.

However after a record check, Newark police learned that Hamlett was wanted on a warrant for failing to appear in Middlesex County on a larceny charge.

A week after his encounter with Garris, Newark police arrested Hamlett on July 21 on the outstanding warrant. An investigation into his claims about owning the Newark church then led to additional charges.

Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, said Hamlett pleaded guilty in February to theft by deception and tampering in the church case. He was sentenced last month in Superior Court to three years in prison.

And there’s something else you should know:

The state Department of Corrections website indicates that, because there is no mandatory minimum prison term to serve on these charges, Hamlett will be eligible for parole at the end of next month.

 

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Original Article Information:

NJ.com
Published: May 27, 2016
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