RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — New details have emerged in the case of a woman accused of filing a false warranty deed on a dentist’s multimillion-dollar home in Raleigh.
Dawn Mangum is charged with trying to steal the home by allegedly filing the false deed. Dr. Craig Adams, the homeowner, said he had to go in front of a judge to get the deed marked as fraudulent. According to his attorney, the judge granted them the relief they requested last Wednesday.
“Long story short, my attorney presented their case and the judge ruled in our favor,” Adams said. “We still got to do quite a bit of work to try and get it marked as fraudulent down at the Register of Deeds.”
Adams filed the civil suit to get the case in front of a judge, which names Mangum as the defendant. The county said in order to remove the fraudulent warranty deed from record, there must be a court order.
“It’s just ridiculous anybody’s got to go through this,” Adams said. “It’s a total waste of time, money, and resources but you know. This is five months now I’ve been dealing with this.”
As the civil case winds down, last Monday, the Wake County Register of Deeds Office sent an email to current fraud alert system users informing them of a new system.
Register of Deeds Tammy Brunner told CBS 17 that the new fraud alert system comes with a new land recording system. The office plans to start using the new system in a few months, postponing it from the original Jan. 21 planned launch date.
When asked how the new fraud alert system differs from the current one, Brunner said, “It is not different. It is the same exact thing. You sign up for it. Anybody does anything under your name in this office, you will get notified that something has happened.”
“You have to sign up for it because when you record a piece of property here, we don’t get your email address,” she continued. “We don’t even get your phone number. There’s no way [to notify you] unless you sign up for it for us to notify you.”
Brunner also said changes to the law would need to be made in order for her office to implement new safety measures to prevent people from falling victim to fraud.
“We’re considering lots of things, but we can’t do anything without legislation being changed,” she said. “It’s something we, legislators, and other registers are working on it. There’s a whole committee that’s working, trying to move legislation to take care of this. But until that happens, there is nothing my office can do differently.”
The Register of Deeds Office plans to start using the new land recording system in at least a few months from now, with April as a possible date. The current land recording system was built in 1998.