Charges In Alleged Deltona Deed Theft Scam Forwarded To State Attorney

In Deltona, Florida, the Daytona Beach News Journal reports:

• [Lester] Williams is one of several people swindled in a real estate scam in which scammers literally stole some houses right out from under owners, investigators said. In many of the cases, a simple deed document was forged. Investigators said they don't know how the ring of Deltona scammers chose their victims. Some properties were facing a pending foreclosure. In another, the owner had recently died. In other cases, nothing was out of the ordinary. It could happen to anyone, investigators said.

• The Volusia County Sheriff's Office said it sent charges relating to the scam against four people in three cases to the state attorney. A spokeswoman for the State Attorney's Office said Tuesday prosecutors are reviewing the cases. Formal charges have not been filed.

Among those targeted by investigators are:

1. Cynthia L. Fuentes, 47, who also uses the last names Fontanez, Aleman and Fontanez-Aleman, who faces charges of six counts of grand theft and three counts of operating an organized scheme to defraud,
2. Fuentes' daughter, Cindy R. Fuentes, 26, who faces charges of two counts of being a principal to grand theft,
3. Notary Mark Hittell, 49, a retired corrections officer for the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, who faces charges of two counts of grand theft and being a principal to grand theft, as well as charges of scheming to defraud and forgery, and
4. Hittell's wife, Doris, 41, who currently is a corrections sergeant for the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. She faces a charge of scheming to defraud and two counts of grand theft, according to investigators.

The story includes this blurb on Doris Hittell's personnel file with Seminole County:

• Her personnel file contained three incidents of possible theft from inmates during the intake process at the jail where she works. In one instance she was given a written warning and ordered to repay nearly $1,500 to the agency's inmate account over a period of eight months. In another, she was forced to pay $100 and received a verbal warning. The third accusation was deemed unfounded.

For the story, see Turbulent housing market breeds deed scams.

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