Elderly woman, 78, loses $350,000 NY home after her neighbor’s 35-year-old daughter ‘FORGED deed’
A 35-year-old New York woman has been arrested on charges of forging a deed to seize an elderly woman’s house – but she insists she got the house in thanks for caring for her.
Aurelia Soogea, 35, appeared in court Friday in Nassau County, Long Island, pleading not guilty to forgery and robbery.
She is accused of paying $10 to put the deed on her mother’s neighbor’s $350,000 home in her name.
The owner, 78-year-old Rosemarie Mika, claims she was notified of the deed transfer in a letter from Nassau County authorities.
Mika then called the police.
Rosemarie Mika, 78 (left), accused Aurelia Soogea, 35, of forging documents to steal her home
The Lakeview, Long Island home is valued at $350,000
The deed was handed over to Soogea on October 11, and Mika claims she found out about it thanks to a letter notifying her. Soogea says she and Mika went to the offices together to fill out the paperwork
Soogea’s attorney, Lawrence Carra, told NBC New York that Mika gave Soogea the house as a gift.
“We contest it vehemently, we have entered a plea of not guilty,” he said.
“She provided services and stayed there from time to time as a caring, loving assistant.”
Carra said there is “contradictory evidence” showing that “Soogea did not forge the deed.”
Soogea said she recorded conversations between her and Mika confirming the transfer of the house.
She also provided stickers from their visit to the county building the day the deed was signed, arguing that Mika was there and willingly handed over the property.
Mika’s lawyer said that Soogea’s documentation and sound recordings are fabricated.
Soogea is due to appear in court on Thursday.
Forgery charges are common in the United States.
In May 2022, a Georgia man was accused of stealing six properties across North Carolina.
Isaiah Robert Louise Baskins Jr. of Macon, Georgia, was charged with committing forgery between December 2018 and September 2019, using the names and addresses of six people and another person’s Social Security card to forge deeds.
Soogea is seen with her lawyer, Lawrence Carra. He says that Soogea got the house in thanks for being Mika’s caretaker
He allegedly submitted the forged documents to the registry of deeds to transfer their real estate to him.
The case continues.
In December, a California woman named Shaneika Seymore was arrested after allegedly forging false deeds of cessation claims to sell Memphis properties she didn’t own.
That same month, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the indictment of five alleged members of a robbery gang on charges of stealing three homes from elderly homeowners in Jamaica and St. Albans, Queens.
According to the indictment, the defendants impersonated the homeowners by using forged driver’s licenses and Social Security cards and sealing off the properties with forged signatures on deeds and documents.
“No one should have to go through the nightmare of having their home stolen without any warning, knowledge or reason,” James said in a statement announcing the indictment.
“Theft is a brutal crime that targets senior citizens, and often people of color, who are wealthy but low on cash and rely on their homes as a stabilizing force for their families and loved ones.”