Happy July Mohave County,
I am thrilled it’s July and celebrating our Country’s Birthday, but not too thrilled with the triple digits.
No matter your method of lasting through this heat, please do so safely and wisely and Happy Independence Day.
Here at the Assessor’s office, besides staying cool as much as possible, our staff have been focusing on a very real issue that has surfaced in our state and our country that risks your ownership of your property; deed fraud.
When it was first brought to our attention a few years ago we scrambled for a solution. Our staff found the common denominator of any deed fraud is a change of mailing address. With that information, it was evident a better control of one’s mailing address could be possible. We created the Assessors Address Protection Program (AAPP). Any Mohave County property owner can sign up for our AAPP program, freezing your mailing address, thus protecting you from fraud and giving you a higher level of security for your property. About a year or so after our program was unveiled the State Legislature passed a bill that required the Recorder’s office to create a list to opt-in that would give you a notice if someone recorded a document in your name. This program is different than ours, but between both programs Mohave County property owners are much more secure with their property.
None of these programs would be a reality had we not taken an interest in protecting your property.
But it does not stop there. Although both our offices have great programs to offer our property owners, the next step was to train our staff what to look for to avoid deed fraud today. Mohave County stepped up to facilitate training, not just for our office, but for Assessors offices, Recorder’s offices, Law personnel and even Attorneys around the entire state.
We called upon Don Carrol, CFE, Criminal Investigator from the Arizona Attorney’s Office and Jesi L Wolnik, Deed Fraud Expert Attorney from Gilbert, Arizona. These two teachers created a fantastic class that educated all in attendance about deed fraud and shared stories of how fraud IS implemented and what to look for when conveying title, so it is NOT successful. The class was amazing, we are looking forward to another class real soon! We are proud to have facilitated this class and very comfortable knowing our staff is leaps ahead at identifying deed fraud.
With the programs Mohave County offers and the training we have accomplished, know that Mohave property owners are probably the most secure county in the state when it comes to deed fraud.
Stay cool and Happy 4th.
Jeanne Kentch, Mohave County Assessor
