
An employee of the Broward State Attorney's office and her son have been accused of duplicitous efforts to strip a 95-year-old veteran of his funeral home business. Josephine Brown, a longstanding legal assistant, and her son, Debarris James, were taken into custody for allegedly targeting Richard Macon, a former teacher and owner of the Freeman Macon Funeral Home in Pompano Beach, a staple in the community for over five decades. According to NBC Miami, the pair attempted to execute a quit claim deed transfer of the property while Macon resided in a skilled nursing facility.
The nursing facility had been Macon's home due to his dementia, which left him under the court-ordered guardianship of his daughter, Mary Macon Scott. Investigators with the Broward County Property Appraiser’s Crimes Against Property Unit have claimed that the veteran was in no mental state to consent to any transactions. "We interviewed our victim and he was in no condition to understand what he was signing," investigator William Golding told NBC Miami. "He didn't even understand some of the questions that we were asking of him." It was during a subsequent inquiry that the deeds were flagged, preventing the effective transfer of the property.
A notice from the Broward Property Appraiser's office first raised suspicions about the deed, leading to further scrutiny. Marty Kiar, the county property appraiser, recollected an unusual call from the suspect. "The defendant in this matter actually called me," Kiar said. "He said…'I don't know why you guys haven't put this in my name yet.'" This statement, as obtained by NBC Miami, underlines the brazen nature of the alleged attempt at fraud.
The disrepute this casts shadows a grim light on the legacies of those involved, especially Brown, who, having been an employee since March of 2001, was revoked of her position without pay upon her arrest, as reported by the Sun Sentinel.
Her retirement had been looming merely a month away. Scott lamented the sad irony, noting her father's years of service and philanthropy. "He helped so many people," she told NBC Miami. "And to for someone to, go after him to try to steal, especially, you know, his business, his livelihood. That's appalling." Charges against the mother and son include exploitation of an elderly person, grand theft, organized fraud and filing of false documents.