Sedona AZ (September 21, 2018) – On September 13, 2018, Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office detectives were contacted by the Paradise Valley Police Department for assistance in a real estate fraud case involving a South Cordes Lakes Drive, Cordes Lakes, Arizona property. Paradise Valley detectives were investigating an elderly victim’s complaint that someone had forged documents showing she had assigned her property to a person in Indiana. The property deed had been filed with Maricopa County as a legal document, however the notary signature was later proven a forgery.

Extensive follow up by tracking Internet activity led to Jesse Thacker, 30, residing at the Cordes Lakes Drive address. Paradise Valley detectives also discovered several additional title/deed related documents had been filed along with forged notary signatures from Thacker’s computer in both Maricopa and Yavapai Counties.

YCSO detectives researched the leads provided and found eleven Yavapai County properties had been deeded to names associated with Thacker who apparently also obtained his own notary license and stamp. The victims in both counties were either deceased, elderly, or the home had been foreclosed on and sitting idle.

Yavapai County properties traced to the fraud include Thacker’s home, two properties on Marble Canyon in Cordes Lakes, Juniper Drive in Chino Valley, Grasshopper Lane in Chino Valley, Cimarron Drive in Camp Verde, Miners Gulch Drive in Clarksdale, Page Springs Road in Cornville, Cordes Lakes Drive in Cordes Lakes, and Demerse Avenue and Lonesome Hawk Drive in Prescott.

On September 19, 2018, YCSO and Paradise Valley detectives served a search warrant at the home of Thacker. Detectives located a notebook containing an outline of the fraudulent activities authored by Thacker. It contained pages of victim’s signatures that Thacker used for the fraud.

Thacker indicated part of his plan was to start a real estate company, transfer the properties to that company to sell. He also admits in his writings, “If I keep doing it, I’m really going to get in big trouble.” Detectives found stacks of paperwork connected to the various victims in both counties.

Thacker stated he was only taking property from foreclosure companies who were ‘committing fraud’ by taking properties in the first place. He used Internet real estate sites to find foreclosed properties and was able to cut and paste necessary information from legitimate documents to create forgeries. He had plans to change the locks on the properties he claimed so only he could gain access.

He initially used fictitious names, or names of friends he grew up with, and planned to later put the properties in his name. In total, eleven properties in Yavapai County and thirteen properties in Maricopa County were involved in Thacker’s scheme. The value is estimated involving these properties is in excess of $7 million dollars.

Detectives remain busily clearing up the fraud trail attached to these properties through the associated recorder’s offices.

Thacker was booked into the Camp Verde Detention Center on charges including Fraud, 14 counts of Forgery, Impersonation ID Theft, and Theft. He remains in custody on $500,000 bond.

Citizens can contact the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office with information or questions at 928-771-3260 or the YCSO website at www.ycsoaz.gov.

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