James Townes Jr. has admitted conduct in a case centered on deed filings involving 14 properties across the St. Louis region. Prosecutors alleged the scheme involved 10 or more individuals and was intended to cause losses exceeding $1.5 million.
A Scheme Involving Deed Filings Since 2018
Townes was accused of filing fraudulent deeds targeting properties in the St. Louis region that belonged to other people. The alleged filings involved at least 14 properties.
The alleged scheme involved properties across the St. Louis region. Prosecutors say it involved 10 or more individuals and intended losses exceeding $1.5 million.
Missouri Quiet-Title Law
Missouri Revised Statutes § 527.150 allows a person claiming an interest in property to bring a quiet-title action.
Missouri law allows a person claiming an interest in property to bring a quiet-title action. The FBI has identified property and mortgage fraud as one of the fastest-growing white-collar crime categories nationally.
Local Tools and State Proposals Aim to Close the Gap
St. Louis homeowners can sign up for a free Property Fraud Alert through the City Recorder of Deeds office, led by Michael Butler. The service, provided through Fidlar Technologies, emails or calls when a document bearing a registered name is recorded, according to the Recorder’s office.
What property-fraud alerts can—and cannot—do
The City Recorder of Deeds describes its alert as an early-warning service for possible fraudulent recordings, not a way to prevent fraud. The FBI’s Boston Division reported receiving a steady increase in quitclaim-deed-fraud reports, but that regional observation does not establish a trend in St. Louis. The FBI also reported 58,141 victims and $1.3 billion in losses tied to real estate fraud nationwide from 2019 through 2023; those figures cover real estate fraud broadly, not deed forgery alone, and the FBI says it does not track statistics solely for quitclaim-deed fraud, according to the FBI.
Fraud schemes can target vacant land and non-owner-occupied homes, where absentee ownership can delay detection.
Another Person Was Charged in the Case
Townes was not the only person charged in connection with the scheme. Charnay Bartlett was also charged in the case.
The case echoes another major St. Louis-area property fraud prosecution. Hoodline reported in a five-year sentence for mortgage fraud last September, after St. Louis resident Edward James Mitchell Jr. was ordered to pay $482,096 in restitution for a separate $1.2 million mortgage fraud scheme.
