D.C. Man Sentenced to 150 Months For Forging Deeds

After being found guilty in April 2008 of charges related to a scheme obtaining property via forged deeds, Duane McKinney of Washington, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before the Honorable Judge Reggie B. Walton to 150 months in prison and ordered the defendant to pay $912,630 in restitution and to forfeit three luxury vehicles and two real properties. The court also ordered two money judgments in the amounts of $770,872 and $59,000. The evidence established that McKinney obtained title to about $1 million worth of D.C. and Maryland properties through forged deeds. In fact, the owners did not sign the deeds, as the vast majority of the owners were dead at the time of the forged deeds. Co-conspirator Joe D. Liles assisted McKinney by signing his name to these false deeds as the notary falsely stating that he saw the owner sign the deeds as grantor and that the owner personally appeared before him. Once the deeds were notarized, McKinney would sell the properties as if they belonged to him or his business and would use the money for himself. Liles pleaded guilty on Jan. 16, 2008, to a charge of false statements and was sentenced on Jan. 6, 2009, to 180 days of a suspended sentence, three years probation and to pay restitution of $691,587.