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Sonya Washington, Closing Agent for Cannaday Abstract & Title Co., Inc. in Clinton, Arkansas, called her buyer a few days prior to closing. She gave him the amount needed for closing, so he could obtain a cashier's check in the amount of $118,000.

The buyer told Sonya he already had a cashier's check from someone else made out to himself, but he would go to the bank to have the check made payable to her Company. A few days later she called the buyer and set the closing for Friday, October 28, 2016 at 10 a.m.

The day of the closing the seller showed up at Sonya's office, but the buyer did not. The seller's real estate agent called and said the buyer was not able to make the appointment, but would be at Sonya's office later that day. The seller left her office and Sonya called the buyer.

The buyer told her he was working in Tennessee, would be meeting a guy in Little Rock, Arkansas, to pick up the cashier's check and would be at Sonya's office by 5 p.m. Sonya called the seller's real estate agent; he and the seller returned to her office to sign the seller's closing documents. The buyer did not make it to her office by 5 p.m. on Friday. Instead, the buyer called and asked to sign at 8:30 a.m. on Monday morning.

On Monday, October 31, 2016 at 8:30 a.m. Sonya was set to meet with the buyer, but again he did not show. The seller's real estate agent called Sonya and said the buyer told him he had hit a deer over the weekend, and was in Jonesboro, Arkansas, having his car fixed.

The buyer said he would be at Sonya's office at 11 a.m. At 11:30 a.m. the real estate agent called back and said the buyer had called again. His car was overheating and he had to turn around and head back to Jonesboro to have it fixed. He promised to show up the next day by 8:30 a.m.

On Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at 8:30 a.m. the seller's real estate agent waited with Sonya for the buyer to arrive. When the buyer showed up he said he was sorry but he just realized he did not have the cashier's check. He said he left it at home in his briefcase. The buyer signed his closing documents, said he would grab the check from home and be back in 10 minutes.

An hour later, the buyer called Sonya and said when he got home his partner had gone to work using his car with the briefcase inside. He said he would meet his partner in Conway, Arkansas, get the briefcase and come directly to Sonya's office with the check.

The buyer called back at noon to say he had recovered the briefcase, but the check was not inside. The briefcase with the check was actually in another car located at his son's house in Jonesboro. Sonya said she could not continue holding documents for a closing that was not going to happen, and that the buyer needed to contact the seller and his agent to extend the closing. The seller called Sonya and said he was extremely frustrated with the buyer, but the buyer had assured him he would be at Sonya's office with the funds in hand at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 2, 2016.

At 10 a.m. on Wednesday, November 2, 2016, Sonya called the listing agent and told him the buyer did not show up at her office. The listing agent tried to call the buyer, he would not answer the phone.

The buyer did respond via text saying he had run into more problems retrieving the check, because he arrived at his son's home and his son was not there. He had to wait for him to retrieve the check, but was now on his way to Sonya's office.

At 3:10 p.m., the buyer called Sonya and said he was 10 minutes from the office. He showed up at 3:30 p.m. and handed her the cashier's check. The check was drawn on a local bank, but it did not look like the cashier's checks they typically issued. Sonya held the check up to view the watermark. There was no watermark!

Sonya told the buyer she needed to verify the check was validly issued. She called the bank but they were unable to verify the check was issued by them; they had no record of the check number.

Sonya asked the buyer where he got the check. He said from a man that he did some work for in Little Rock. Sonya dialed the Little Rock branch; they too said no cashier’s check was issued with that number. Sonya also provided the check to the branch office across the street.

The bank teller confirmed the check was counterfeit and then called the police. The police met Sonya at her office and arrested the buyer for trying to pass off a counterfeit check.

Two days later as Sonya and her colleagues were leaving the office for the weekend, they noticed two people watching them from the parking lot across the street. Sonya called the police, who identified the two people as the buyer's wife and business partner, and told them to leave town. Luckily, they vacated the seller's property and left town.

The local newspaper featured the story and stated a background check on the buyer showed that he was on active parole in Tennessee for armed bank robbery and had been sentenced to 35 years! The article said he had even escaped from prison at one point.

 

 
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