Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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Genesee County sheriff says man duped dozens into buying property he never owned
By Ron Fonger | Flint Journal
May 07, 2010, 3:20PM
Submitted photoScott Archer
GENESEE COUNTY -- The idea was simple and police say Scott G. Archer Jr. repeated it dozens of times on unsuspecting buyers:
Find a vacant house in Flint and sell it as if you owned it, giving the buyer nothing but a worthless quit claim deed in exchange for their money.
Now, Archer isin the Genesee County Jail, charged with selling vacant houses he never actually owned.
The Genesee CountySheriff’s Department began investigating Archer in February after employees in the county Register of Deeds office noticed the high number of quit claim deeds being filed by Archer and a company called Dominion Investment Group, said Sheriff Robert Pickell.
Investigators later discovered that Archer, 37, was behind Dominion, Pickell said.
“He would simply walk around and find vacant houses,” Pickell said. “That's how simple it was.”
Archer would take money for houses he pretended to own then file a quit claim deed, a legal document that indicate someone is turning over interest in a piece of real estate to another person.
Register Rose Bogardus said her office doesn't routinely investigate the filing of quit claim deeds, which must only be notarized, but said the number of claims filed by Archer raised suspicions.
Pickell said his investigation showed Archer or DIG sold at least 69 houses by using the quit claim deeds, listing himself or the company as property owner and signed contracts with the buyers, requiring that he be hired as contractor if any work was to be done to the homes.
Some houses in Flint were sold for as little as $1,200, the sheriff said.
Archer, 37, faces one count of racketeering and three counts of obtaining money under false pretenses for selling the homes, mostly in the city of Flint, late last year and early this year, Pickell said.
Robin Wheatley, Archer's court-appointed attorney, said he talked briefly to his client and is still studying the case against him. Archer is scheduled to appear Monday for a preliminary exam before Flint District Judge Cathy Dowd.
Flint District Court records show Archer's cash bond is $20,000. Court documents show he was discharged from parole in a separate case on March 19, 2009.
The charges against Archer are not the first time police have charged someone with selling properties they did not own in Genesee County.
In 2005, Sherrod D. Pigee of Grand Blanc was sentenced to 6-20 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $271,500 to 17 victims after he pleaded no contest to a charge of racketeering, a 20-year felony.
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A friend wanted me to look up a house on the city's web page to see who owned it. She said the original owner told her he sold it to a church & they were going to renovate it. The owner listed on the city's web site is....... Scott G. Archer, Jr. I told her to contact the original owner, or the Sheriff's department. |
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