Debarris James, a former employee of Freeman Macon Funeral Home, alongside his mother, Josephine Brown, is accused of trying to con the elderly owner of his business
By Amy Viteri
An employee with the Broward State Attorney's office and her son are in jail after authorities said they tried to steal a business from an elderly veteran.
Josephine Brown and her son Debarris James are accused of targeting the then 94-year-old inside a nursing facility.
“It's been very disheartening,” the man’s daughter, Mary Macon Scott, told NBC6.
Her father, Richard Macon, ran Freeman Macon Funeral Home, one of the oldest funeral homes in Pompano Beach, for decades.
“It's been there at least 50 years,” she said.
Her father is now 95 and living at a skilled nursing facility due to his dementia, Scott said.
In November of last year, a former employee of the funeral home and his mother — a legal assistant at the Broward State Attorney’s office — tried to con Macon out of his property, investigators with the Broward County Property Appraiser’s Crimes Against Property Unit said.
“On Nov. 3, Debarris James, along with his mother, Josephine B., entered that facility with the intent of stealing the funeral home,” said investigator William Golding with the property appraiser’s office.
According to the arrest affidavit, the pair even recorded a video of what they did next.
“He was able to allegedly get our victim to sign a quit claim deed to the funeral home,” Golding said. “To the name of Debarris James and Josephine Brown. His mother was actually the notary.”
Macon was under the court-ordered guardianship of his daughter Scott because of his cognitive decline.
“We interviewed our victim and he was in no condition to understand what he was signing,” Golding said. “He didn't even understand some of the questions that we were asking of him.”
Investigators at the county property appraiser's office flagged the deed, which seemed suspicious. Then James himself reached out, they said.
“The defendant in this matter actually called me,” said property appraiser Marty Kiar. “He said…'I don't know why you guys haven't put this in my name yet.'"
That’s because his office was already investigating due to red flags, Kiar said.
The property was never transferred to James. A spokesperson for the State Attorney’s Office said Brown, an employee since March of 2001, was suspended without pay Friday after turning herself in to authorities. She was scheduled to retire in August.
Scott said her father, an Army veteran and former school teacher, has a legacy of helping his community.
“He helped so many people,” she said. “And to for someone to, go after him to try to steal, especially, you know, his business, his livelihood. That's appalling.”
James and Brown are facing several charges, including exploitation of an elderly person, grand theft, organized fraud and filing of false documents.
In bond court on Saturday, a judge set James' bond at $37,500 and Brown's at $15,000.
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Broward State Attorney's Office employee and son accused of trying to exploit elderly veteran
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