Florida Title Agency Owner Accused of Illegally Pocketing $3.3 Million

A Florida title agency owner has been charged with pocketing over $3.3 million in loan proceeds that was supposed to pay off mortgages on transactions she closed. Prosecutors say she used the proceeds for gambling and other personal expenses instead.

Dawn Herndon, 46, of Wellington, Florida, owner and operator of Accurate Title Closings, Inc. in Lake Worth, Florida, was charged last week with five counts of bank fraud.

According to prosecutors, Herndon concealed her crimes from lenders by submitting fraudulent HUD-1 settlement statements to them, falsely stating that loan proceeds had gone towards paying off prior loans, when in fact she had not paid them off as promised.

Herndon evidently ran her company's escrow account dry. Herndon came to the attention of Florida regulators when checks from Accurate Title's escrow account bounced, including checks to county tax collectors.

Prosecutors list five transactions in Palm Beach County in their criminal complaint against Herndon, but claim that she failed to pay off mortgages in a total of 32 transactions, all in a 13 month period between December 2009 and December 2010.

A report in the Palm Beach Post indicates that Herndon's alleged crime spree began at nearly the same date that a foreclosure judgment of over $1 million was filed on her 5,800 square foot home in Wellington, one of two residences that she shared with her husband. Herndon later delayed the foreclosure sale by filing for bankruptcy. Then, in April of this year, the Herndons conveyed both their residences to Fidelity Land Trust Company, a controversial foreclosure rescue firm that claims to have eliminated dozens of troubled mortgages through quiet title actions.

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why... - CHARLENE PERRY/MD

Do these people think that
A. This is right and
B. They won't get caught

We are all struggling to make ends meet these days. This is not the way to balance your personal budget or keep your office budget in check. Seems these folks and others are budgeting the way our government has been doing for years. Rob Peter to pay Paul and hope neither of them catch up to you. This approach never works

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Re: why... - Robert Franco/OH

I think that many of the crooks being caught today started "borrowing" from their escrow accounts when the business was booming. When there is a lot of new business (and money) coming in, it is easier to hide the theft. When the business slowed down, and the new money wasn't coming in fast enough, they started to get caught.

But, you are right. It seems pretty obvious that this is not right, and there is always a paper trail that will get you caught (evenutally). With the sums of money usually involved in these cases, I'm always a little surprise that the underwriter didn't detect the shortage in the escrow account sooner. Either I'm not understanding how they managed to fake their audits, or the underwriters aren't doing as good a job as they used to.

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Title underwriter - CG/FL

I don't see where they mentioned the Underwriter, and I agree how did they get away with it from 2009. You would think they had a few audits during that time.

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