Real Estate Agent Faces Criminal Charges, Civil Lawsuit Variously Alleging He Duped Blind, Dementia-Stricken Senior Into Signing Away Mineral Rights, Home, POA, Control Of Bank Accounts

In Waco, Texas, the Waco Tribune-Herald reports:

• A local real estate agent was arrested at his office Thursday [July 6], accused of deceiving a disabled man into selling mineral rights, valued between $85,900 and $143,280, for $10.
  
  Jody Glenn Scoggins, 31, a local real estate agent with RE/MAX Centex, was arrested on a second-degree felony charge of securing the execution of a document by deception and a third-degree felony charge of exploitation of an disabled person. Scoggins, a real estate agent who has worked throughout McLennan County for the past 10 years, was arrested Thursday afternoon, Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said.
  
  According to the arrest affidavit, Scoggins befriended a 66-year-old man who suffers from dementia and blindness while he was living at a nursing home last September and started having the man’s mail forward to Scoggins’ office.
  
  “(The victim) is an heir to mineral rights in Hood County, Texas, which has been passed down through his family,” the affidavit states. “On 09/27/2016, Scoggins, along with … a public notary for the state of Texas, went to (the nursing home). While at the nursing home, Scoggins had (the man) sign a mineral warranty deed granting his wife, Kimberly Scoggins, and he all interest in all oil and gas that may be produced from (the man’s) original mineral warranty deed for the amount of $10.”
  
  The notary told investigators the full form was never read to the victim, only explained by Scoggins, the affidavit states.
  
  “After speaking to (the victim), he told me he would never sign his mineral rights over because they have been passed down through his family and are his main source of income,” the affidavit states. “Scoggins was deceptive by tricking (the man) due to his disabilities into signing his mineral rights over to him for his pecuniary gain.”
  
  Scoggins told investigators last month he knew the man suffered from cataracts but was unaware of any other medical conditions, according to the affidavit.
  
  The victim’s wife also told authorities the full mineral rights document was never read to her husband, the affidavit states.

Source: Waco real estate agent arrested, accused of deceiving disabled man.

See also, Area realtor charged in alleged scheme to bilk elderly man out of home:

• [I]n a separate but related issue Thursday lawyers for David and Brenda Menefee, of Moody, filed a civil action in 414th State District Court seeking relief after they say Scoggins and a group of others conspired to take ownership of the Menefee’s Moody home and to gain access to their bank accounts.
  
  The petition names the Menefees as plaintiffs and Scoggins, his wife Kim Scoggins, his mother Debbie Scoggins, the Scoggins Real Estate Team, LLC, Pennybags, LLC, Scoggins Enterprises, Inc, Hessco Roofing & Remodeling, LLC, and 1st Choice Fencing, Inc., as defendants.
  
  Brenda Menefee is rightful owner of a home on Highview Lane, in Moody, where she cares for her husband who is blind and has dementia, Waco attorney Ross Russell says in the lawsuit.
  
  The suit alleges that Scoggins forced David Menefee to sign over his power of attorney, blocked his wife’s phone number on his cellphone and told Menefee his wife had stopped calling him, and had his mail re-routed to Scoggins’ office address.
  
  Eventually, the lawsuit says, the defendants were able to gain control of the real property and all of the Menefee’s accounts. POA abuse