Harris County homeowners get property titles back after KPRC 2 publishes report of alleged fraud

HOUSTON – Two days after KPRC 2 reported on their shock when they discovered their property deeds had been transferred to a complete stranger, homeowners in Harris County are celebrating a major victory.

The deeds have now been reinstated in their names with the help of local attorneys Marianne Robak and Lori Hood, who discovered the suspect deeds during an investigation into their lawsuit against Houston-based company Surrogacy Escrow Account Management (SEAM) and its owner Dominique Side.

Selia Ybarra, appearing on KPRC 2 at 10 p.m. Tuesday night, said she hopes to finally get some sleep after learning her deed has been transferred to Yancy.

Jose Acevedo, another alleged victim of deed fraud related to Yancy, told KPRC 2's Bryce Newberry he was relieved and grateful for the help.

Less than a week ago, Newberry called Ybarra and Acevedo after reviewing Robak's court records in the surrogacy theft trial, which revealed three suspicious property transfers to Helen Yancy, all filed on the same date in March and stamped by the same notary public.

When tracked down by KPRC 2, the notary said his stamp had disappeared, but he could not give a specific story about when it disappeared or under what circumstances. He said he had only been involved in a single property transfer with Yancy.

Both Ybarra and Acevedo said they had not signed the documents, did not know Yancy and had no intention of leaving their properties when contacted by phone last Friday evening.

“I don't understand how someone could do something like that,” Ybarra said. “It's theft. It just makes me sick.”

Yancy was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit because, as part of an ongoing legal dispute, she was also given five acres of land that originally belonged to the surrogacy company, and that transfer also bore the same notary stamp.

“You picked it up and published a story about it,” Robak said in an interview Thursday night. “After contacting these homeowners about these deeds, they called me or emailed me and asked what they should do.”

After Ybarra's interview aired and Robak saw KPRC 2's report that Acevedo and another alleged deed fraud victim said they did not know Yancy or sign the documents, she said she asked her permission to try to get her properties back.

“The next morning (after the story aired) I emailed Helen Yancy, since I had her email address from her filing (in the lawsuit), and asked her if she would be willing to return those properties to the homeowners, and she responded and agreed,” Robak said.

Hood prepared the documents to be sent to Yancy on Wednesday evening, and on Thursday afternoon they received back documents signed and notarized by Yancy.

The documents have now been sent to the property owners so they can submit them to the Harris County Clerk's Office to reclaim their properties.

“This was something I wanted to do for these homeowners because I saw her interview with you and I just felt compelled to help them,” Robak said. “I don't know her motives or if she even did it. All I know is that I asked her if she would be willing to give them back and she jumped at the opportunity.”

Yancy has not answered KPRC 2's questions about the incident or admitted any wrongdoing.

Both Ybarra and Acevedo said they had reported the alleged forgery and fraud to law enforcement.

A real estate attorney told KPRC 2 earlier this week that getting a deed back into the correct name requires a court order or a fraudster's consent to return the property.

Harris County Constable Alan Rosen said Texas laws need to be stricter to prevent fraudulent transfers because investigators have seen an increase in the use of fake or stolen notary stamps. Criminal offenses in fraudulent transfers can include abuse of office, theft or tampering with government records, he said.