A 19-year-old Riverside man has been accused of fraudulently selling a home he did not own in Burbank after forging a deed, according to Palos Heights police.
Patch and Southwest Regional Publishing both reported on the incident earlier this month after Palos Heights police in November took a report from a title company manager, who said the company was the victim of a theft after a property it owned in Burbank was sold fraudulently.
The manager told police they learned the deed to the property had been forged after the rightful owner, who received the home after the previous owner died in 2019, shared their suspicions and said the deed may have been filed fictitiously with the Cook County Clerk’s Office.
According to both news sites, police investigators learned the deed was forged in April 2025, showing the deceased previous owner had signed the property over to Gold Cost Realty LLC, which then sold the property over the internet. Through search warrants, police learned the realty firm had been filed in the name of a 19-year-old local resident, who had used a paid web service to delete the deceased property owner’s information from the internet.
Police said bank records showed about $72,000 was transferred by the title company to a bank account in local resident’s name in November before it was further transferred to a second account in his name.
The teen turned himself into Palos Heights police on Feb. 5. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office has approved felony charges for forgery and theft between $10,000 and $100,000.
