A Louisburg woman has been charged with filing a fraudulent deed against a high-end home in Raleigh.
5 On Your Side previously reported that Dawn Mangum's name was listed on a deed recently filed with the Wake County Register of Deeds. However, that home is owned by Dr. Craig Adams, a local dentist.
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Adams said he's never met Mangum, and she has no claim to his home.
Late Monday afternoon, Mangum surrendered on a charge of attempting to obtain property by false pretense.
Warrants say the 30-year-old Mangum tried to "knowingly and designedly, with intent to cheat and defraud" obtain Adams' home by filing a false warranty deed against the property.
Mangum is being held on $100,000 bond and is due in court on Tuesday.
Adams said after he listed his $4 million home for sale, he noticed that someone else had filed paperwork with the Wake County Register of Deeds and tried to take over the home.
"[I've] never met this woman in my entire life, [a] total stranger," Adams said. "Something like this makes you feel violated, vulnerable, frightened."
Adams only learned what was happening after the woman contacted the neighborhood management company, asking for gate access codes.
He told 5 On Your Side he believes Mangum's intention was to squat in the house and use the deed to slow down the eviction process.
"The Register of Deeds, they're not attorneys," attorney Cara Dudek-Petri Gibbons explained to 5 On Your Side.
Dudek-Petri Gibbons said deed fraud like this isn't exactly common, but it does happen and it's something homeowners need to be aware of.
While there is not really a way to prevent deed fraud, homeowners can ask their local Register of Deeds to set up a fraud alert so that anytime something is filed they get a notification.
Victims of deed fraud, like Adams, can face a long and costly legal process to prove that their home actually belongs to them.
Even if Mangum is convicted of the charge, Adams would still need to go through civil courts to correct the record.