Two people accused in a scheme to file forged deeds to illegally transfer homes in Mount Vernon — including homes belonging to people who died years ago — were working in the city’s buildings department at the time of the alleged fraud.
Charlene Humphreys and Damon Davis were arrested Wednesday by investigators from the Westchester District Attorney’s Office. Both are charged with first-degree falsifying business records, a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, and Humphreys is additionally charged with attempted grand larceny in the second degree, a felony that could land her in prison for up to seven years.
According to the complaint, Humphreys and Davis were code enforcement officers in the building department at the time of the alleged fraud in the spring and early summer of 2023.
Charlene Humphreys, a former Mount Vernon enforcement officer, leaves White Plains City Court on December 18, 2024, following her indictment on charges of attempted grand larceny and falsifying business records in connection with an alleged scheme to illegally transfer ownership of four homes in Mount to wear. Vernon.
Using her middle name and her mother’s maiden name, Humphreys created an account in the Property Records Electronic Portal System with the Westchester County Clerk’s Land Records Division, according to the criminal complaint filed by investigator Steven Sassone. In May 2023, she filed documentation to transfer ownership of an East Fifth Street home to a company, A & C Home Restoration LLC, that Humphreys had registered the month before.
Deed supposedly signed by two Mount Vernon homeowners who were actually deceased
Among the documents was a deed allegedly signed by the two owners. But one of the owners died in 1996 and the other, a former opera singer, died in 2017 at age 100, according to the indictment and an obituary in The Journal News/lohud.
The following month, she allegedly used the same company to try to buy a house on South 15th Street. The deed she submitted was said to have been signed by two people who died in 2007 and 2012.
In both cases, the county clerk’s office did not register the transfer of the deed. The combined value of the two homes was between $960,000 and $1.1 million, according to municipal assessment reports cited in the complaint.
Both defendants are accused of falsifying business records by invoking Davis’ role as a notary public to falsely claim that the owners of properties on Summit Avenue and Madison Street appeared before him and signed documents selling the properties.
The owner of the Summit Avenue home told investigators he never signed anything. The owner of the Madison Street home died in 2018. Curiously, according to county land records sighted by The Journal News/lohud, on the document Davis apparently signed next to the deceased owner’s name, Davis listed his address man like the house on Summit. Lane.
Humphreys was arraigned Wednesday afternoon in White Plains City Court. No plea was entered and Judge Eric Press ordered her released without bail after Assistant District Attorney Renee Hassell said prosecutors in the case were not seeking bail.
Humphreys is due back in court on January 7, the same day Davis will be arraigned.
Humphreys left the courthouse denying any wrongdoing and saying she expected the entire situation to be cleared up, but declined to elaborate. Reached by phone Wednesday evening, Davis said he had no comment.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Two from Mount Vernon NY accused of deed fraud were city employees
