Thief steals home

11:40 AM CDT on Tuesday, August 23, 2005

By STEVE STOLER / WFAA-TV

Frisco police called a thief's robbery a new twist on identity theft. Not only did the suspect steal a homeowner's identity, but the criminal also stole her house as well.

The Cook family recently vacated their Frisco home. James Cook's job took him to Florida and his wife Paula went to Oklahoma to care for her sick mother. When they returned to check on the house they found someone had changed the locks.

"We didn't have any idea of what was going on," James Cook said. "We had no idea."

The story got even more bizarre when a man showed up at their front door and claimed he owned the Cook's house. He said he had put a $12,000 down payment on the home to someone named Carlos Ramirez.

The Cooks said they then went to the Denton County Courthouse to check their warranty deed. That's when they discovered someone forged Paula Cook's maiden name and transferred the deed to a Carlos Ramirez.

"It was very shocking and outrageous," Cook said. "It put us in shock that someone could just change the warranty deed without our acknowledgement."

Now the Cooks must go to court to prove that they are the rightful owners of their own house.

Frisco police said while identity theft is on the rise, they have never seen a case quite like this one and that it is making it very difficult to determine how and why it happened.

"The only thing we can do is work it very diligently to try to get who's responsible for this and put them in jail," said Sgt. Gina McFarlin.

Police said they believe the culprits obtained Cook's social security number, driver's license number and a copy of her signature.

"We were in disbelief that someone would be that ignorant to do something so flagrant in violation of the law," Cook said.

Cook said he feels something is wrong with a system where someone can go to the Denton County Courthouse and fraudulently change the name on a deed so easily without the rightful owners even knowing.

E-mail sstoler@wfaa.com