Court records show that an employee of the Broward State Attorney’s Office and her son are accused of trying to scam an old man out of a property worth about $200,000.
Josephine Brown, 65, and Debarris James, 47, were arrested on Friday on charges of organized theft and exploitation of an elderly person. Their probable cause affidavits say that she gave her son property without permission. James is also being charged with first-degree grand theft and filing false papers without permission.
Based on the Broward Sheriff’s Office’s inmate check, both are no longer in custody.
Brown told WPLG Local 10 on Saturday, “I never did anything wrong.” “Work has always been important to me.” “I love my job.”
In March 2001, Brown was hired by the state attorney’s office and worked as a legal assistant in the mental health crime unit. Before she was fired on Friday, she had planned to retire in August.
The unnamed victim signed a quit claim deed on November 3, 2023, which gave the property, which was a funeral house, from the 94-year-old man to James. This is what the incident report says. Brown notarized the document at the care home where the nonagenarian lives on the same day.
After that, Brown told BSO Deputy Joseph F. Sommovigo that James was going to start “a new corporation” with the land once it was in his name.
The elderly man has been under “court-ordered guardianship” since 2022, and both Brown and her son used to work for him. However, the deputy found no proof that James had a claim to the land or a “written or verbal contract” to take over the funeral home, the affidavit says.
Sommovigo wrote, “It was clear that he wasn’t aware of what he had signed because of his health.”
The affidavit says that the Broward County Land Appraiser Office recorded the deed on November 7, 2023, and put a value of about $200,000 on the land.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office asked for the case to be sent to the 20th Circuit State Attorney’s Office because a staffer was involved.