Jill Porter | Door shutting on house-theft scam

TOM MASSARO had been ill for a long time and, after yet another surgery in January, he came to a decision.

It was time to sell the historic property on Germantown Avenue that he'd renovated years ago but had been forced to board up after a fire.

He didn't know when he'd be well enough to fix the 18th-century house and he didn't want to prolong the blight on the neighborhood.

After all, he had been the city's housing director under former Mayor Bill Green, and later became a private developer of affordable housing, as well as a community activist.

But when Massaro set out to sell the property at 6316 Germantown Ave., he got shocking news:

He didn't own it any more, he was told.

He'd "sold" it the previous summer to his "brother," Charles Faust, for a dollar.

A new deed had been filed with the Department of Records in July, and Massaro's "signature" had been validated by a notary public.

"I was dumbfounded," Massaro said. "I was on a morphine drip but I was pretty sure I hadn't done that."

Not to mention that Massaro is white; his "brother" is black. And they were three months apart in age, a gestational feat that even Massaro's remarkable mother couldn't accomplish.

The former housing czar was the victim of a scam that has ensnared hundreds, if not thousands, of city homeowners whose properties had been stolen out from under them, as documented in articles I wrote with my colleague Bob Warner in 2000.

Brazen thieves forge signatures, notarized by unscrupulous notaries, on forms to transfer title. They then file new, fraudulent deeds - often claiming to be relatives of the seller, to avoid paying the city's real- estate-transfer tax.

It's easy to do, and just as easy to get away with - because the D.A.'s office doesn't prosecute individual incidents.

Massaro was incensed when the D.A.'s office initially turned down his case. And he was stunned to learn he'd have to go to civil court to fight to get his own house back.

That would mean huge legal bills, as well as months, if not years, for the case to be resolved.

"We don't send a citizen to retrieve their own stolen property if it's a candy bar," Massaro declared. "So for something that's worth tens of thousands of dollars, why should I be on my own?

Thanks to a court reform instituted just this week by Common Pleas President Judge Darnell Jones, he won't be.

Massaro's property, built in 1752 and part of the Underground Railroad, was the first of 13 he bought and renovated in the 1980s.

It was used as multifamily housing until it was destroyed by fire in 2000.

The building was boarded up while Massaro battled with his insurance company to be reimbursed for the higher cost of historical repair.

"And then I got sick," he said.

Idle properties like that attract real-estate vultures who assume the owner has died or is too old or ill to pay attention.

Department of Records Commissioner Joan Decker has instituted reforms - including notifying homeowners of record when a new deed is recorded and photographing everyone who makes a transaction - which she said have "acted as a deterrent."

But the problem continues.

And D.A. Lynne Abraham can't do much about it.

"This is such an epidemic in Philadelphia, we just do not have the manpower to do individual properties," Abraham said. Budget cuts forced her to reduce the economic-crime unit from 10 to four attorneys.

"It's very time-consuming and labor-intensive, so we tend to spend our efforts on house stealing on guys who are doing this as a business, where there are multiple cases."

It was only after an appeal on Massaro's behalf by City Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller - whose office turned up other potential fraudulent transactions by the same person - that Abraham agreed to investigate the case.

And Massaro turned to Lance Haver, the city's director of consumer affairs, vowing to fight "the global problem" on behalf of all the victims.

Haver and Decker had already been in talks with President Judge Jones about reforms that would enable victims of blatant fraud to get their houses back quickly.

Yesterday, Jones put the finishing touches on a new policy designed to do just that, in response to what he called "a horribly sad situation."

Court officials will direct all civil cases involving stolen houses to Jones to hear personally or to assign to another judge for an expedited hearing.

If a victim is poor, a pro bono lawyer will be appointed.

Jones said his hope is to have the hearing completed - and the property back in its rightful owners' hands - within an incredible 10 to 15 days.

Bravo to Jones and to other city officials for figuring out a way to help the hapless victims of this terrible crime.

All the reforms - including tagging allegedly fraudulent deeds so properties can't be resold to unsuspecting buyers - put the city in the forefront of national efforts to solve this problem, Haver said.

But until resources are found to prosecute all the house thieves, Massaro won't be satisfied.

"I believe it's a growing problem because if you can do it and get away with it - why not do it?" he said. *

E-mail porterj@phillynews.com