Criminal accused of using ‘forged’ documents to take over houses in Volusia does not admit fraud

Following a News 6 investigation into a real estate scam involving bogus cases, a convicted felon accused of illegally taking over two homes in Volusia County said on Tuesday that he was not challenging the organized scam.

Javon Randard Walden, 37, faces two years in prison and then three years of supervised probation if the judge approves the terms of the plea agreement. It will also be responsible for paying restitution to the victims.

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Walden is accused of using a fraudulent document to make it appear that he owned a house owned by his neighbor Charles Gadson, who died in November 2020.

The waiver, which was notarized a week after Hudson’s death, indicated that Hudson appeared before a notary and signed the deed.

Walden later sold the deceased’s home to a real estate investor for $70,000, county records show.

[INSIDER EXTRA: Read Javon Walden’s charging affidavit]

“The case was 100% fake,” Gadson’s sister Carolyn Shank said. “You just can’t take someone’s property like that and then sell it to someone else.”

The Daytona Beach police investigated the real estate deal, but prosecutors initially refused to prosecute Walden, who had previously served time in prison for cocaine trafficking.

Shank contacted News 6 in 2021 after the state’s attorney dropped Walden’s case.

News 6 soon discovered that another Volusia County family was accusing Walden of taking possession of their deceased relative’s home using a fraudulent act.

In this case, an exit suit filed by a Volusia County Court Clerk appears to show that Judith Hanger Swindle transferred ownership of her home to Walden in December 2020.

A signature purporting to be Swindle’s appeared on the notarized deed, although the death certificate confirms that Swindle had died three years earlier.

After News 6 published a report on Walden’s questionable real estate transactions, the state’s attorney reopened the case and charged Walden with an organized fraud scheme, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Less than two weeks before the jury was due to hear Walden’s case, Walden pleaded no contest to the crime as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

“It’s an unfortunate circumstance,” Walden told News 6 in his first public comments on the matter since his arrest. “I apologize to everyone I may have harmed in any way. But I’m not that kind of person. I want you guys to know that.”

Shank, who was sitting in the courtroom when Walden announced his waiver statement, is pleased that Walden will likely be sent to jail when a judge formally sentences him in March.

“Good riddance!” Shank said. “It will be hell for him. And he deserves it because of what he did to me and my family.”

Shank has been involved in a lawsuit for over a year with a real estate investor who bought her late brother’s house from Walden and who is currently listed on county records as the owner of the property.

A civil lawsuit is scheduled next month to determine if Shank has a legitimate interest in the property and whether the investor will be compensated for property taxes and other expenses he has paid since buying the home in 2021.

Many counties in Central Florida offer free real estate fraud alerts that automatically notify citizens when an official record, such as a deed or mortgage, is registered in their name.

Real estate fraud alerts are available in Orange, Flagler, Lake, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties.

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