When Ben Lomond couple Tom Decker and Maria McArthur drove up to their house on Hubbard Gulch Road after six weeks out of the state, they were greeted by a stranger who walked out of the front door.
They were shocked when the man, 65-year-old Daniel Judd, pulled a grant deed out of his pocket showing he owned the house the couple had purchased two years before.
The couple’s furniture, appliances and possessions had been moved neatly out of the house into the garage below, and Judd had changed the locks and moved into the home.
Decker called the sheriff’s office, but after a lengthy talk, nothing was resolved and the couple had to leave.
“To come home and find someone living in your house is bad enough, but then to prove to law enforcement that you really own the house, just adds insult to injury,” District Attorney Bob Lee said in a press release.
The couple went to stay at a neighbor’s house.
“Judd was allowed to stay here with this goofy story, and we’re told to leave or be arrested,” Decker said.
The frustrated couple had to find out what happened and why Judd was claiming their home.
“I would have worked the rest of my life to get that man out of this house,” McArthur said.
A simple mistake — or more?
Decker, a real estate broker, sniffed out the problem almost immediately.
After researching with the title company and the county, Decker determined that the limited liability company he had created in Nevada, named California Housing Association LLC, did not have possession of the house.
Decker had created the company in Nevada to take advantage of favorable tax laws.
But when Old Republic Title Co. filed the grant deed for the couple, the company accidentally filed it in California, where California Housing Association LLC did not exist. So the house essentially sat in limbo until Raymon Tate III got involved.
On March 26, Tate created California Housing Association LLC in California and, because of the records mistake, became the owner of the home. Then, less than a week later, he sold the home.
“It didn’t bother anybody that the house was furnished and that the gas and lights were on,” Decker quipped.
County records show that Judd purchased the home from Tate on April 2.
“We believe (Judd) purchased it for $14,000 and 21 silver dollars,” said Kelly Walker, assistant district attorney.
In the meantime, Decker fought to reclaim the house the couple had purchased for $50,000 as a “red-tagged” property. They obtained a restraining order against Judd and then moved back into the house, entering through a broken window that Judd may have used to enter the house in the first place.
Tate was then arrested April 28 on four felony charges. He is charged with obtaining property by false pretenses, making a false deed, filing a false deed with the county recorder and swearing a false oath to a notary.
Tate, who is free on $25,000 bail, is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday, May 13.
Decker said he spoke to the county assessor’s office, the title company, the district attorney’s office, the sheriff’s office and a judge to work through the mess, but the house is still officially under Judd’s name.
“They stole the house from the wrong person,” Decker said.
In the meantime, the couple is working to feel safe in their home.
“We’ll work on every means to get this house secure,” McArthur said.
