CLEVELAND — It has felt like a never-ending headache for Dr. Maria Armstrong.
For the past three years, she has worked to recover her Cleveland rental property after she learned from investigators that a fraudulent deed transfer document was completed and filed with the county in October 2021 by someone she's never met.
"He forged my signature, and he forged a notary signature as well," Armstrong said. "And just those two forged signatures were enough to transfer title into his name."
In 2023, a grand jury indicted Michael Prince for stealing 19 properties involving different owners across Cuyahoga County.
"He was very intricate in which houses he stole," Armstrong said. "He stole houses that didn't have liens on them, and he stole houses of deceased people."
During that time, Prince worked as a construction superintendent at CHN Housing Partners, which helps to build homes for those in need. None of the properties involved were owned or tied to CHN. A CHN spokesperson told News 5 that Prince resigned from the nonprofit in 2021 when leadership first became aware of his legal troubles.
Investigators confirmed to News 5 that in six of the cases where Prince stole a home, a quit claim deed was signed by someone who was already dead.
A quit claim deed, as it's called, is a simple legal document often used to transfer property between family members or in a divorce.
In July, News 5 reported on another separate case involving a different perpetrator in which a property was fraudulently signed by an owner six months after he died.
RELATED: Here's how someone could easily steal your real estate property -- and what you can do to prevent it
Afterwards, investigators told News 5 that Prince, through an LLC, would sell the property to someone else, pocket the profit and pass along the problem before his victims would even notice the property was no longer theirs.
Wait — so why isn't he in prison?
Prince pled guilty last year but never showed up for sentencing, which involved a sentence of up to 29 years in prison.
A warrant is out for his arrest, leaving his victims to navigate trying to recover their properties and proving they should still own their homes.
In Armstrong's case, Prince completed a quit claim deed, claiming the house was sold to him for $40,000. Records show Prince then sold the property to another LLC for $60,000 that same month. Online property estimates have the home valued at $270,000 in 2024.
"I still don't have possession of my own home," Armstrong said. "I had [the property] titled into my name, and I have to pay taxes on the home, but I don't have possession."
For Armstrong, this isn’t about proper punishment or justice. It’s about how long she has lived in limbo.
"I thought that stolen items as soon as they were found, were returned to you," Armstrong said. "But with houses, it's just a different matter because there's so many court systems involved. I don't think I'm interested in what happens to [Michael Prince] because I think I just want my house back."
Armstrong said she bought her first rental property in 2001 and has never encountered an issue like this. She said she didn't notice the fraudulent property transfer for several months, when an investigator reached out. She said she even had tenants living inside at the time.
"This is the object of the American dream, this is wealth building," Armstrong said. "You want to own homes and give them to your children and not have mortgages on them. And I don't know if that's an ideal situation. In this case, it kind of burned me."
If you have any information about Prince's whereabouts, you're asked to contact the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department at 216-443-6000.
The rise in stolen property crimes
Experts say it is a crime happening more often. Crooks forge documents and transfer property to someone else to quickly sell it and turn a profit.
"I don’t think anyone saw this coming," Cuyahoga County Director of Real Estate Services Brian O'Malley told News 5 earlier this year. "It’s just been slowly ticking up."
What you can *and should* do to prevent this from happening to you.
Most counties in Ohio offer free property alerts, which notify property owners any time your personal or entity name is used in a real estate filing within the county.
To learn about property alerts in Cuyahoga County, click here.
If you’re a home buyer, get title insurance to ensure you don’t run into a home layered with legal issues.
For Armstrong, she hopes to see her case resolved soon but understands that's unlikely.
"It's still going to be in the legal system for quite some time," she said. "There's no proper system to return the homes to the rightful owners, even if there’s proof it was stolen. Maybe the system should probably be corrected so that it doesn't happen again to someone else because that would be really unfortunate."
Clay LePard is a special projects reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter @ClayLePard, on Facebook Clay LePard News 5 or email him at Clay.LePard@WEWS.com.
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
