"Sovereign Citizen" Ploy
doesn't save Homes from Foreclosure
Photo: Jacob-Franz: Dyck
By Jodie Tillman, Alexandra Zayas and John Martin
St. Petersburg Times Staff Writers
Sunday, August 21, 2011
He considers himself a "sovereign citizen," above the laws of government and, apparently, the rules of grammar. He punctuates his name Jacob-Franz: Dyck.
He is a disgraced former dentist who went to prison for stealing silver and gold. He has sued the banks, a governor, the United States of America.
Yet Dyck's name appears on hundreds of real estate records throughout Florida, written into the deeds of homeowners desperate to try anything to avoid foreclosure — including paying him to put their properties in "pure trusts." Dyck says such trusts can't be taken or taxed because they fall under "common law," out of the reach of government.
One problem: That's not true.
Law enforcement has investigated him. The state is after him for nearly $13,000 in unpaid taxes. But no one has charged him with a crime for his real estate dealings.
For months, Dyck operated out of a Hernando County fish camp. The Tampa Bay area was his ground zero.
His trusts took ownership of middle-class homes in Riverview. He had a couple return to their foreclosed Tampa home and charged them rent. He talked the trustees of the Rev. Henry Lyons' 105-year-old African-American church in Tampa into signing over their sanctuary and land.
Dyck, 72, has relocated to Miami. His reach remains nationwide.
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As if the misbehavior of Wall Street and the Too-Big-To-Fail Bankers hasn't hurt the American middle class badly enough, we also have lots of "little guy" crooks running around trying to capitalize on people's fear, in order to get them to throw their hard-earned money at whacky ideas which will NOT really keep them in their homes.
This is a place to list such schemes as they rear their ugly heads, to help warn the public away from these fraudsters.
Generally speakiing, Mortgage Rescue Schemes are scams that target those whose home is facing potential foreclosure. The scheme prays on desperate homeowners who are struggling with, or behind in their mortgage payments. These schemes cause difference kinds of harm to the homeowners, but it usually involves the owner ultimately being forced out of their homes, and losing even more money.
The irony is, most of the people who are tempted by these scams could likely have held on to their homes if they had just consulted an attorney experienced in the defense of mortgage foreclosures.
Florida has enacted a Foreclosure Rescue Scheme statute, with tough penalties for those who prey on the fear of homeowners, and fines up to $15,000 per violation.
