Deters: Investor sold homes he didn't own

A Cincinnati real-estate investor has been indicted on charges that he duped home buyers into purchasing properties he had no right to sell. Authorities estimate the alleged scheme cost would-be home buyers more than $150,000.

William D. Howard, also known as Willie J. Howard, faces multiple charges, including tampering with records, forgery and 11 counts of theft. Howard's company, WDH Investments, owns nearly a dozen Hamilton County properties, according to the auditor's office.

Prosecutor Joe Deters said that Howard would locate homes that were abandoned, foreclosed on or seemingly vacant, and then forge title documents to make it appear he legally owned them. He would then advertise the properties on Craigslist to lure unwitting home buyers.

"A lot of these people gave Howard money thinking that they were buying a home, and some of them even spent money on renovation," said Julie Wilson, Deters' spokeswoman.

According to the indictment filed with the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, here's what happened:

Between August 2014 and May 2015, Howard targeted multiple homes, forged the necessary documents to appear as though he was the owner, and then advertised them for sale. In some instances, he marketed the properties as lease-to-own homes, so he duped buyers would pay him monthly rent that he then pocketed.

In other cases, the buyers thought they were purchasing the homes outright, and had even moved in and started renovation projects as they settled into their new lives.

A task force was formed involving police departments in Colerain Township, St. Bernard and Cincinnati, as well as the prosecutor's office.Eventually, one of the properties' rightful owners noticed that someone was living in one of his houses, Deters said. That owner was the first of several to call and report the fraud to the police. By then, the Hamilton County Auditor's Office had already become concerned about repeated transactions involving WDH Investments.

"There are real victims in this case," Deters said in a Thursday news release. "Some of these victims did not have a lot of money and used their life savings to purchase and fix up what they thought would be their home. Howard's greed ruined a lot of lives."

Repeated attempts to reach Howard and WDH Investments were unsuccessful, as listed phone numbers were disconnected.

According to Hamilton County court records, Howard and his company have been named in multiple lawsuits dating back to the early 2000s, including some that accused him of pocketing down payments on other homes.