BOULDER COUNTY, Colo — A Longmont man is going to prison after pleading guilty to two crimes in May.
Savuth Yin was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted theft of $1 million or more. Yin also pleaded guilty to possession of a defaced firearm. A judge handed down an 18-month sentence for that charge, according to court records. Court records don't indicate whether the sentences will run concurrently or consecutively.
Yin and his wife were accused of fabricating names of fake notaries and forging quitclaim deeds to take possession of 77-year-old Fred Oelke's seven properties in 2021. The value of the homes combined were worth nearly $3 million, according to court records.
“Makes me feel very violated,” Oelke's ex-wife, Karen, told 9NEWS' Jeremy Jojola over the phone in May. Her signature was also forged in the case. “There needs to be a better system in place where you can't just record a document against a property, and all of a sudden you find out you don't own it anymore.”
>The video above is from May 13, 2022, when Savuth Yin pleaded guilty: Married couple accused of trying to steal 7 properties with fake deeds
Oelke was found dead inside his Longmont home in September. Oelke's autopsy listed his cause of death as "undetermined." His death is still considered suspicious and is being investigated.
“The death investigation is open and still active because the circumstances of Mr. Oelke’s death were suspicious. The theft cases against the Yins are separate and distinct from the open investigation surrounding Mr. Oelke’s death,” Shannon Carbone, a spokesperson for the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office, wrote in an email in May.
“No suspects have been identified or eliminated as far as the death investigation,” Carbone added.
The forgery case came to light when a woman who was renting a home from Oelke discovered one of his properties was taken over by a "Nathaniel Turner" on paper.
Investigators said they were able to trace the forgeries back to the Yins.
Yulisa Yin, Savuth's wife, is still facing 11 charges related to the forgery and theft cases. Her next court date is scheduled for Aug. 29.
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