When a private investigator finally tracked down the owner of Choice Title of South Florida in the fall of 2009, the contents of her office were in a pile on her living-room floor and homeowner complaints were mounting in Tallahassee.
Milissa Hernandez’s company was facing fraud, conspiracy and breach of contract lawsuits. Its underwriter, the respected Old Republic National Title Insurance Co., had terminated its contract, and a wronged Broward County homeowner was about to receive a $217,873 judgment against it.
None of it should have been a surprise.
State slow to respond
A Palm Beach Post investigation found Florida Division of Consumer Services complaints dating to 2004 against the Plantation-based company that conducted closings at the foreclosure-wracked Kensington of Royal Palm Beach condominiums.
The Florida Division of Financial Services was alerted to a possible violation in 2008, but it wasn’t until Dec. 30 that it moved to shut down the company.
“That seems like a long time for them to file something,” said Ed Diaz, a Kensington homeowner dealing with the repercussions of Choice Title’s handiwork. “Someone should have taken more responsibility.”
Diaz has a mortgage for unit 102 at the Kensington, a 167-home condo conversion with a 73 percent foreclosure rate. Choice Title closed his loan, as well as at least one other in the community. The second loan was so suspect the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office sent it to the FBI.
The problem with Diaz’s sale is that the owner of record for the townhome is someone else, Miami resident Madelin Ayala. Ayala says her 2008 closing fell through, though her mortgage and deed are in official records.
As the closing agent for Diaz, Choice Title was supposed to ensure there were no other claims on unit 102 and to file Diaz’s mortgage and deed in county records.
According to closing documents provided to The Palm Beach Post by Diaz, Choice Title received more than $3,200 for the work.
But neither his deed nor original mortgage were ever filed. Diaz says his HUD-1 closing statement also was faked to make it appear he put 20 percent down on his loan when he says he did not.
Now Diaz is trying to sort out what happened. Old Republic, which hired the private investigator, says there are tens of thousands of dollars in unexplained transfers from the company’s escrow account into its operating account.
And Hernandez, as recently as March, solicited on her Facebook account for mortgage brokers and loan officers. When a friend responded asking whether Hernandez had opened a new company, she said she would answer in a private message because she is “trying to keep certain things secret! LOL.”
Hernandez, 37, is still licensed in Florida but was issued a state complaint in March . The Department of Financial Services is moving forward with suspending or revoking her license after she failed to respond to the complaint by July 15.
A phone number listed for Hernandez was not accepting incoming calls. A message sent to her via Facebook was not returned.
Choice owner unclear
Alan Fields, executive director of the Florida Land Title Association, said lengthy state investigations are not unusual, adding that officials will often delay taking action if they know a criminal case has been opened.
“They don’t want to do anything to impair the criminal side,” Fields said. “So the fact that there was a significant time lag is probably not a Department of Financial Services issue.”
The FBI will not confirm or deny an investigation.
Florida Department of State records show Choice Title of South Florida was founded in 2003, with a 2005 amendment naming Hernandez registered agent and director.
The state calls her the company’s “sole officer” in its complaint.
But who was really running Choice Title remains in question.
The Old Republic lawsuit names Hernandez, but also employee Ashley Emerson – who it says was unlawfully handed control of the company at some point – and Weston resident Gilbert Torres. Hernandez told the private investigator that Torres is her former brother-in-law.
Torres, 38, is also the former president of Advantage One Mortgage, a Plantation-based company that went bankrupt in 2008.
Broward County records show Torres owned half of Choice Title until 2007, when he sold it to Hernandez for $350,000.
Two years later, in November 2009, Hernandez told the private investigator that Choice Title’s computer server was at Torres’ home.
Also, Advantage One and Choice Title are linked in the Broward County court judgment, labeled co-conspirators in a mortgage refinance that involved a forged quit-claim deed.
“Choice Title made money and the mortgage company made money and there was obvious forgery,” said Fort Lauderdale attorney Geoffrey Ittleman, who won the 2009 judgment. “The mortgage company was in bed with the title company.”
Torres now carries several licenses to sell insurance in Florida. Allstate’s website lists him as an agent doing business out of the company’s Plantation office.
