LONGMONT, Colo. — While the death of a 77-year-old landlord is still considered suspicious and being investigated, two people accused of trying to steal his home and six of his rental properties are being prosecuted for theft.
Police have not named any official suspects since Fred Oelke, a real estate broker and landlord, was found dead in his Longmont home in September.
In the wake of his death, investigators discovered an elaborate scheme involving 14 falsified quitclaim deeds that aimed to obtain seven of Oelke’s properties collectively worth $2,875,000, according to court records.
Savuth and Yulisa Yin, who rented a home from Oelke, have been criminally implicated with a total of 23 charges relating to the fraud scheme. The Yins have not been named as suspects in Oelke’s death, in which the cause has been listed as “undetermined” in an autopsy report.
“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 over email.
“No suspects have been identified or eliminated as far as the death investigation,” Carbone added.
On Friday, Savuth Yin pleaded guilty to two charges relating to the case. One guilty plea for possessing a defaced firearm and another for attempted theft. Yulisa Yin’s 11 charges which include forgery and theft are still pending.
“Makes me feel very violated,” said Karen, Oelke’s ex-wife said to 9NEWS over the phone. 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 Yins are accused of forging signatures and fabricating names of fake notaries to file the 14 bogus deeds in the case.
In the court documents, investigators began to untangle the scheme when a woman who was renting a home from Oelke discovered one of his properties was taken over by a “Nathaniel Turner” on paper.
Subsequently, investigators were able to connect the 14 forged quitclaim deeds to the Yins.
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