HOUSTON – At least two Harris County residents are shocked and scrambling to figure out what to do after learning the deeds to their properties were transferred to a woman who they have never met before.
Harris County Real Property Records show several properties deeded to Helen Yancy, who has now been named a defendant in a lawsuit against Houston-based Surrogacy Escrow Account Management, or SEAM, owned by Dominique Side.
All three of the deed transfers, which are not connected to the SEAM case, went through on the same date at the same time in March, records show. But the residents or their families were unaware until reporter Bryce Newberry contacted them and started asking questions while following up on the surrogacy scandal story.
The residents or their families said they do not know Helen Yancy and that their signatures shown on the deeds were not original.
Background on surrogacy case
SEAM has been under scrutiny for months after the escrow firm suddenly collapsed and allegations surfaced that Side stole the money to fund a lavish lifestyle. The money the company was managing belonged to intended parents and was meant to pay surrogates, but the payments suddenly stopped in mid-June.
On Tuesday, Aug. 6, Helen Yancy was added to the lawsuit, after lawyers discovered records that showed Yancy became the owner of a five-acre piece of undeveloped property in northeast Houston, which records showed SEAM purchased in 2018. The deed transfer went through July 17 in the middle of a civil hearing in the case against SEAM, records show.
When SEAM suddenly collapsed in mid-June, Harris County Real Property Records show SEAM initially transferred the property to Anthony Hall, who is a music producer and Side’s longtime business partner.
But then Harris County Judge Jeralynn Manor temporarily froze assets connected to SEAM, Side, and Hall, including the piece of property.
At a hearing in the case against SEAM on July 17, Judge Manor ordered the assets permanently frozen until the litigation is complete. But during that hearing, in the exact same Harris County building on Caroline Street except a few floors away, the deed to the property transferred again, this time to Yancy, lawyers wrote in documents.
On Friday, Hall’s attorney said his signature on the document used to transfer the property deed to Helen Yancy was “forged.”
During a hearing Monday, Hall played what he called a recorded phone call with Yancy, which is when he said she told him that she “traced” his signature on the deed transfer to herself and called it a misunderstanding.
Last week, Yancy told KPRC 2 that the deed transfer was legit, that Hall and Side signed the document, and that the property was payment for her consulting services in which she said she obtained their businesses “millions in loans.”
KPRC 2 tracked down the notary public whose stamp shows on the deed. He is not being identified at this time but told reporter Bryce Newberry he’s only been involved in one deed transfer with Yancy, and it was months before the one involving SEAM. He couldn’t explain how his stamp may have been used in any of the other deeds to Yancy.
Additional property transfers involving Helen Yancy
According to Harris County records, all three of the properties deeded to Yancy in March had judgements against them in tax delinquency lawsuits and were eligible for foreclosure sale.
Because Yancy became the owner on paper, she could try to claim any excess proceeds on the sale, board certified real estate attorney Cassie McGarvey explained in an interview with KPRC 2 after a review of the records.
But in two of the cases, records show the foreclosure sale did not proceed because the property owners got on a payment plan and have been able to continue living in the home.
We have reached back out to Yancy about the other deed transfers that got filed in March, and while she has responded with other information, so far she has not provided a direct answer.
“There’s very little that you can do as a property owner,” McGarvey, who is not connected to the case, said. “Anytime I see deeds that look like they’re fill in the blank forms that somebody printed off of Google, I’m going to have questions.”
She explained other issues in the documents including how they were notarized and the fact that all appear to be notarized on the same day involving people who live in different parts of the metro.
McGarvey said she’s seeing fraudulent deed transfers in Harris County more often, and that there are limited measures in place at the Harris County Clerk’s Office to detect fraud.
In response to this story, a spokesperson for the Harris County Clerk’s Office said they aren’t conducting an investigation into the three properties and by statute they are mandated to accept property document filings without discrimination to the public. In cases where they believe a document is fraudulent, the case is provided to the District Attorney’s Office for review.
“We are currently exploring ways to mitigate these challenges. However, there is currently no application available that can be implemented to catch up with this type of activity before it happens,” the spokesperson said. “The laws that guide property transactions in Texas need to be strengthened by the legislature to allow the implementation of measures to eliminate this type of fraud.”
Once filed, McGarvey said deeds are difficult to reverse.
“There’s absolutely nothing that can occur to get title back into your name, absent a court order or the fraudster giving you the property back,” she said, explaining that the only remedy is to file a lawsuit.
‘Turns my stomach,’ victim says after learning of transfer
One of those properties, a home on Houston’s north side, has been part of Selia Ybarra’s family for six decades.
“My husband grew up here, so there is a lot of memories here. There’s memories of my kids when they were young,” Ybarra said.
She never dreamed of selling the place she’s worked hard to keep in the family.
“My mother in law’s desire was for my youngest daughter, my baby daughter, to inherit this house,” she said.
Ybarra learned in the last few days that her property deed was transferred to Yancy, after an old family friend and KPRC 2 called.
“Did you ever think in a million years that your property could just be transferred to someone?” asked Bryce Newberry.
“Never. Never. I don’t understand how somebody can do that,” Ybarra responded.
When shown the signature on the papers, Ybarra said it was not hers and she had never even seen the document. She explained she doesn’t sign certain letters the way in which they showed on the document.
“How can somebody go take what you work hard for, what you suffered to get and hold on to?” she said. “It’s stealing. It just turns my stomach.
Ybarra is now fighting to get the property back in her name so it can stay in her family for generations to come but she isn’t sure what the process will entail or how long it will take.
The Houston Police Department encouraged anyone who believes they are a victim of a fraudulent deed transfer to contact the Property and Financial Crimes Unit at 713-308-0900.