A fourth person was arrested on Tuesday for her alleged role in a real estate theft ring involving more than $12 million worth of property in Broward County.
Inesa Florea, 37, was booked into jail and faces several charges, including grand theft and filing false documents. In March, three alleged ringleaders were arrested and charged in a criminal enterprise in which investigators say the suspects illegally obtained homes and claimed them as their own for money.
Investigators said 14 properties worth $12 million were targeted as part of the criminal enterprise.
Michael Dupree, 51, Tyrone Jones, 45, and Yury Domatov, 50, are accused of using forged court documents to steal people’s homes.
Broward County Property Appraiser Marty Kiar outlined how the alleged scheme worked when the suspects were first arrested in March – the suspects allegedly filed lawsuits in court, falsely claiming that the owners of the targeted properties no longer wanted the home because it was in poor condition.
“The return of the service would go to another person who was with them,” Kiar said. “He would say, ‘Oh yes, I’m the representative of this homeowner’ or ‘I’m the representative of this bank’. And he would give a response saying, ‘We agree, we no longer want this property, put it in the other man’s name or company. Orders would be given and they would steal the property”.
Officials said the alleged scheme was discovered after the property owner visited a home he owned in Dania Beach and met alleged associates of Domatov who claimed they were the property owners.
