Woman accused of purchasing home through fraud

On Behalf of | Dec 28, 2021 | Criminal Defense |

A woman was accused of illegally transferring money from her in-laws’ North Dakota bank account and using it to purchase a home in Montana. The 56-year-old woman was initially held at the Jefferson County Detention Center in Boulder, Montana, but officials planned to extradite her to Bismarck.

Home purchase

According to the police affidavit, the woman arranged for an illegal wire transfer by using her in-laws’ bank account information and her mother-in-law’s name. The money was transferred to a property title company in Helena for the down payment on a $474,000 home in October.

The woman also allegedly financed the balance of the purchase price by claiming that her father-in-law was her co-borrower. Police investigators say that the notarized documents the woman used to obtain the financing were not legitimate. The notary that she listed was not licensed with the Secretary of State’s office.

The woman’s mother and father-in-law have told the police that they did not sign any of the documents or authorize the wire transfer. They also told police that the accused woman and her husband, who is their son, lived in their home for part of 2017.

Two criminal counts

According to the woman’s arrest warrant that was issued on Nov. 30, she has been charged with one count of felony theft and one count of obtaining credit with another person’s personal identifying information. Each of these charges has a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. The initial court records did not list a criminal defense attorney for the accused woman.

A person who has been charged for a similar offense may use a number of different defense strategies, depending on how much evidence there is against them. In many cases, people accused of white-collar crimes are able to work out a plea deal for reduced charges.