A woman working as a notary public in Philadelphia is charged with committing deed fraud to steal more than 20 city homes from their owners during the past eight years, District Attorney Larry Krasner said Wednesday afternoon.
Gwendolyn Schell, 67, of Germantown, is accused of forging signatures on documents to illegally transfer the deeds of properties in various parts of the city beginning in 2017. Schell conspired with others to identify the homes she targeted, prosecutors said. Some of the alleged thefts involved homeowners who had died, but other properties were stolen from living homeowners.
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A notary public is a state-appointed official who acts as a witness to the signing of important documents, including deeds used for property transactions. Most of the time, deed theft cases are reported to authorities by a notary public who has flagged suspicious signatures and stamps on official documents.
At a press conference Wednesday, Assistant DA Kimberly Esack said the case against Schell is "unusual" because the defendant allegedly used her position as a notary public to disguise the fraud.
In 2018, staff at the city's Department of Records noticed anomalies in deeds connected to Schell. In many instances, Schell had backdated notarized documents making it appear as though the homeowners had approved the transaction of their properties before they died, prosecutors said. Investigators also found patterns among Schell's documents, such as using fraudulent stamps to indicate she had witnessed signatures, and some properties allegedly had been priced below market value to avoid higher tax bills.
"A notary public is supposed to be someone whose very job is to act as a gatekeeper – to prevent fraud in these cases," Esack said.
The findings at the Department of Records were passed to the city's Office of Inspector General, which referred the case to the district attorney's office, prompting an investigation that has spanned years. Philadelphia police were able to trace seemingly unrelated deed theft cases back to Schell, expanding the scope of the prosecution.
The DA's office released a map showing 21 properties involved in the investigation into Schell and her co-conspirators, who have charges pending but have not been publicly identified. Prosecutors said deeds for additional homes are under investigation.
Provided Image/Philadelphia DA's Office
The map above shows the properties in Philadelphia that were allegedly stolen as part of a deed fraud conspiracy that began in 2017.
Some of the stolen homes were sold to buyers who had no idea they were purchasing properties that had been acquired fraudulently, prosecutors said. In some instances, the owners' relatives have been able to recover the homes. Others are still trying to get them back in civil court, a process that can be lengthy and complicated if stolen homes have been resold before fraud is reported.
Department of Records Commissioner James Leonard urged property owners to protect themselves and their families against deed theft by ensuring their homes are listed in wills. The city also has a free service for property owners to guard against deed fraud by signing up to receive emails any time their names are recorded on documents.
Krasner said many deed theft cases occur at vacant properties after owners have recently died, and some of those houses are used to harbor other crimes. Philadelphia has more than 10,000 properties with "tangled titles" – those whose deeds have names other than the apparent owner – and such properties are often vulnerable to theft because steps were not taken to plan for their inheritance or the administrative side of completing transactions.
"It becomes a very, very difficult situation for a family if they have fallen into this situation because they didn't really have resources to protect (their home)," Krasner said. "Some predatory thief comes in, takes it, and now they have to get access to the house. Maybe they can't even do that. … The tangled title situation … can become a real mess."
Schell faces a total of 31 counts on charges including conspiracy, theft by deception, forgery, identity theft, tampering with records and related offenses.
The DA's office encouraged the public to call its deed fraud hotline at 215-686-9902 if deed fraud is suspected at a property in the city.
