Just before turning 94, Vera Mitchell learned the people who stole her land had been caught. Four men were indicted in a $10 million fraud scheme targeting seniors.
DALLAS — For Vera Mitchell, this birthday was especially sweet.
She turned 94 — and received news she thought she might not live to hear: the people who stole her property had finally been caught.
“All praises go to our God,” Mitchell said.
WFAA chronicled Mitchell’s fight to get her land back in 2023, after a deed filed with the Dallas County Clerk falsely claimed she had sold the vacant lot.
“When I saw the signature, I knew it wasn’t mine,” she said during a 2023 interview.
Dallas police discovered someone had impersonated Mitchell using a fake driver’s license to steal the property.
Mitchell’s daughter, Dalphine Parrish, filed a motion in civil court seeking to have the fraudulent deed voided, and the property transferred back into her mother’s name.
In September 2023, the buyer who purchased the lot from the person posing as Vera Mitchell signed a new deed, transferring the property back to Mitchell. It had taken nearly a year to restore the title.
Meanwhile, the criminal investigation had gone cold. The money trail led out of state.
“So, it’s kind of like a death, and there’s no closure,” Parrish said.
Just before Mitchell’s 94th birthday, her daughter received a notification from prosecutors: Arrests had been made in the case.
A federal grand jury in California had indicted four Cameroonian nationals in what prosecutors described as a $10 million money laundering scheme that targeted more than 100 victims — many of them elderly, like Mitchell.
Sylas Verdzekov, Mustapha Yamie, Lovert Che and Leslie Bongajum are accused of creating fake identities and 36 shell companies to open more than 145 bank accounts and 30 mailboxes. Federal prosecutors say they used those accounts to collect money from scams, then quickly moved the funds through wire transfers, mobile payments and cash withdrawals.
The indictment outlines scams that included impersonating tech support or bank employees to trick seniors into wiring money, as well as fake real estate sales.
“We never expected it to be such a large scam,” Parrish said. “See how big this is. It could have been their mom. It could have been their, their aunt, grandma and who knows?”
Verdezkov and Che are set to be sentenced later this year. Yamie’s case is set for trial in October. Bongajum is still wanted by authorities and is believed to have fled to Canada.
“That’s closure. That’s closure for this. It really is,” Parrish said.
Still, one issue remains unresolved.
Last month, Mitchell received a $522 bill from the Dallas County District Clerk for court costs. Her daughter says the charge is unfair given that her mother was the victim.
The clerk’s office says there is no court order on file waiving the fees and has asked the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office for guidance.
“Legal communications and advice with a county department is confidential, so we cannot comment,” a DA spokeswoman wrote in an email.
For more from WFAA’s Dirty Deeds investigation, click here.