Memphis Feds Indict Self-Proclaimed Sovereign Citizen For Recording Dirty Deeds Purporting To Snatch, Hijack Titles To Foreclosed HUD Homes
- A federal grand jury indicted a self-described "sovereign citizen" on charges he fudged property deeds to steal homes. 44-year-old Devitoe Farmer of Memphis faces three counts of theft of government property. U.S. Attorney Edward L. Stanton, III, said Farmer knowingly used fraudulent "quit-claim" deeds to essentially steal foreclosed properties assumed by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD).
***
- Farmer's indictment comes almost a year to the date since The Action News 5 Investigators caught him quit-claiming (or quick-claiming) the property deeds of seven Raleigh-Bartlett homes he does not own, according to Shelby County property records. [...] "I claim the unalienable (sic) rights that were guaranteed to us by the sovereign forefathers," said Farmer when confronted at one of the properties, 5181 Wax Wing Ln.
***
- Tom Leatherwood, Shelby County's register of deeds, said Farmer quit-claimed the deeds by coming into the office and signing paperwork that shifted the properties from himself to himself, clouding the properties' titles. "If someone files fraudulent documents, that does create a cloud over someone's title and creates a real headache for the legitimate property owner," Leatherwood said.
- Leatherwood also produced an affidavit of truth sworn by Farmer, declaring himself to be "...a natural, freeborn Sovereign, without subjects. I am neither subject to any entity anywhere, nor is any entity subject to me."
***
- Records held at the Shelby County Criminal Court clerk's office showed Farmer bonded out on the charge. Prosecutors held the case to state in anticipation of a grand jury indictment.
- Since that time, Farmer quit-claimed six more properties he does not own: [...].
For more, see Feds indict "sovereign citizen" on foreclosure theft.
<< Home