MIAMI – A man who detectives accused of attempting to steal a real estate property from a woman who is the bed-ridden resident of a nursing home appeared in Miami-Dade County court on Tuesday.
Tom Jenkins III didn’t know that undercover detectives were waiting for him at about 11:30 a.m., Monday, at Marina Title LLC, at 12955 Biscayne Blvd., Suite 300, in North Miami. He handed one of them a fake identification to retrieve a check, according to the arrest report.
Jenkins and a woman who pretended to be the victim and her son listed the real estate property for $500,000 and sold it for about $462,100, but their plot fell apart just as they were about to get the check, according to detectives.
“This property theft is a plague in our community. They actually caught him doing it. They caught him red handed,” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer said during the hearing.
Miami-Dade detectives arrested Tom Jenkins III on Monday in North Miami.
Miami-Dade detectives arrested Tom Jenkins III on Monday in North Miami. (MDCR and Google Street View)
The detectives with the real estate fraud squad arrested Jenkins, 43, of Oakland Park, before he was able to leave Marina Title. They had yet to arrest the woman who forged the victim’s signature 17 times in front of a notary who took a copy of the fake identification she provided, according to the police report.
Glazer ordered Jenkins to stay away from the victims. His defense attorney said he didn’t have any prior arrests in South Florida, is a father of two children ages 8 and 10, and he is the caretaker of his ill 65-year-old mother.
Jenkins is facing charges of organized fraud, grand theft, fraudulent use of identification, fraudulent possession of identification, and exploitation of an elderly and disabled adult. Glazer set his bond at 45,000, which his attorney said he couldn’t afford it.
“I am not modifying the bond,” Glazer said.