TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – Tyler police have arrested a woman they say committed forgery in an attempt to buy a home worth $1.2 million.
Mary Morgan Strobel, 27, was arrested on Feb. 22 for forgery greater than $300,000, a first-degree felony. She was also arrested for fraudulent purchase of a firearm in Bossier City.
A 6,740 square foot home was listed for sale with a Tyler realtor for $1.2 million. The realtor told police she was approached by Mary Morgan Strobel, 27, and another person who has not been arrested at this time, according to the arrest affidavit, who said they wanted to purchase the home.
The realtor said Strobel and the other person met with the seller and listing agent, put a contract on the house and agreed to submit $10,000 cash in earnest money. They submitted what police investigation later confirmed were fraudulent “proof of funds” documents from a local bank, showing they had over $110 million in an account there. Strobel allegedly told them she inherited the money when her father died and her brother committed suicide.
Strobel and the other person proceeded to move forward with buying the home, even placing sticky notes on all the furniture in the home they said they wanted to buy from the seller.
The earnest money was never received by the title company, so the company contacted the the couple again. Strobel met with the agent, according to the affidavit, and in front of her called the bank to complain that the $10,000 had not been sent. She said the bank told her it would be wired immediately. It was never wired, the affdavit states.
The bank was contacted by police. It was found they had no account with the account numbers Strobel and the other person listed. There was an account with the person’s name on it, but it contained much less money than the millions they allegedly claimed to have.
As the investigator questioned Strobel, he alleges in the affidavit that Strobel changed her story numerous times. She claimed to have given birth to triplets; he asked the realtor if Strobel had been pregnant, and learned that though she had told the realtor the same thing, she said during those four to five months she tried to work with them, she never appeared pregnant.
Strobel told the investigator she and the other person had decided not to buy the home, but in reality the realtor and title company had sent a termination letter to the couple after figuring out the deal was fraudulent. The investigator states in the affidavit that he found it “odd” that Strobel told different stories to different people involved in the supposed deal, as well as to him.
According to the arrest affidavit, Strobel and the other person attempted to harm another person financially by defrauding them of their property.
Strobel is being held in the Smith County jail on a $100,000 bond.
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