A Kent County man has been charged with abusing his position with the state to try to gain the property deeds of three vulnerable women.
Author: Cali Lichter
KENT COUNTY, Mich. — A Comstock Park man is facing decades in prison after detectives allege he abused his position as a state Adult Protective Services (APS) Investigator to exploit three vulnerable women. APS investigators are tasked with protecting vulnerable adults from abuse, neglect and exploitation.
Derek Plumb faces five charges: one count of embezzling more than $100,000 from a vulnerable adult, and four counts of forgery of a document affecting real property.
Court documents say in August of last year that a Byron Township woman reported a fraudulent Lady Bird Deed taken out on her house and deeded to the Adult Protective Services Investigator assigned to her case, Derek Plumb.
A Lady Bird Deed transfers the house deed to a beneficiary when the owner dies.
A detective with the Kent County Sheriff’s Office found, through a check with the Kent County Register of Deeds, that there were two other houses that were deeded to Plumb and his company, Blackstone AP LLC. There was a Quitclaim Deed for one residence, giving immediate ownership to the LLC, and another Lady Bird Deed for a residence deeded to the LLC.
There was an initial deed for the reporting victim’s house with Plumb as the beneficiary and another listing his LLC as the beneficiary.
All three were confirmed to be clients on Plumb’s APS cases.
When the detective met with the notary on the documents, according to the court documents, the notary claimed he did not notarize the documents, did not meet the women and that his signatures on the documents were forged.
Through a handwriting analysis, it was found that the signature characteristics on the documents were similar to Plumb’s.
In early January, Plumb allegedly admitted to detectives he was struggling financially, “saw an opportunity” and “made a poor decision.”
Detectives say he admitted to taking advantage of the situation, having one of the women sign the deed knowing she was showing dementia like symptoms and did not know what she was signing.
In the case of another victim, authorities said he initially recalled having her sign the document without knowing what it was but later admitted he may have signed her name on the document.
He said he knew where the notary’s stamp was and that he stamped the documents and forged the notary’s signature.
In an email to 13 ON YOUR SIDE, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said the following:
"Financial exploitation of an older adult is one of the most commonly reported forms of mistreatment, and generally that financial exploitation is done by someone the elderly person trusts. On many occasions the person is a family member, but we have seen cases where it involves neighbors, friends, anyone who may have a close trusting relationship with the elderly person. In addition, only 1 out of 14 cases of abuse of an elder is ever reported, making it one of the least reported crimes we deal with."
Plumb is facing up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He will be back in court later this month.
Full Article & Source:
Kent County man charged for allegedly using APS position to exploit vulnerable women
See Also:
Kent County worker accused of embezzling $100K, defrauding elderly in property scheme
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