Sting Yields Palm-Greasing Indictment Against Clerk In Cook County Recording Office; Chicago Feds: Suspect Agreed To Prepare, Record Backdated Fraudulent Real Estate Title Transfer For $200, Giving Us A Break On Her Usual $500 Fee For Doing 'Dirty Deeds'

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Chicago, Illinois):

• A former clerk for the Cook County Recorder of Deeds accepted a $200 cash bribe in exchange for preparing and agreeing to record a back-dated deed on an Oak Park home, according to a federal indictment [...].
  
  REGINA TAYLOR accepted the bribe from an individual who purportedly wanted to add a relative’s name to the deed of a residence in Oak Park, according to the indictment. Unbeknownst to Taylor, the individual was actually an undercover law enforcement agent, the indictment states.
  
  The indictment was returned [] in U.S. District Court in Chicago. It charges Taylor, 59, of Chicago, with one count of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud.[...]
  
  According to the indictment, Taylor offered and agreed to prepare a false quit claim deed that added the purported relative to the deed of the Oak Park property, which was allegedly owned by three deceased individuals.
  
  Taylor told the undercover agent that she usually charges $500 to prepare and record the fraudulent documents, but that in this instance she was willing to charge only $200, the indictment states.
  
  Taylor directed the undercover agent not to tell anyone that the other individuals on the deed were deceased, according to the indictment. She then prepared a fraudulent quit claim deed and back-dated it by 18 months, confirming the purported relative as a grantee.
  
  After giving the fraudulent quit claim deed to the undercover agent to get stamped at the Village of Oak Park, the undercover agent gave Taylor $200 in cash, according to the indictment. Taylor further directed the undercover agent to bring back the stamped copy of the fraudulent deed so that Taylor could file it at the Office of the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, according to the indictment.

Source: Former Clerk at Cook County Recorder of Deeds Indicted for Accepting Cash Bribe in Exchange for Preparing Fraudulent Real Estate Deed.

For the indictment, see U.S. v. Taylor.