VENTURA, California – District Attorney Gregory D. Totten announced today that Los Angeles County resident Theodore Brian Childers (DOB 6/24/38) pled guilty to one felony count of Penal Code section 115, recording a false document. The plea was the result of an investigation conducted by the Ventura County District Attorney’s Real Estate Fraud Unit.
Childers conspired with others to file a fraudulent lawsuit in the Ventura County Superior Court. The lawsuit falsely claimed a Los Angeles property owner reneged upon an agreement to sell her property to one of Childers’ co-defendants, Patricia Jenkins (DOB 1/8/55). Another co-defendant, Andrew Levy (DOB 9/13/58), identified and targeted the property. Levy, a disbarred attorney, drafted the fraudulent lawsuit for Jenkins’ signature. After the lawsuit was filed, Childers filed paperwork with the court falsely claiming the property owner was provided notice of the lawsuit.
Since the property owner was unaware of the lawsuit, she never appeared to contest it. As a result, a Ventura County Superior Court judge issued a judgment awarding the property to Jenkins. Levy and another co-defendant, Delano Bonier Hankins (DOB 2/11/71), then used the judgment to open an escrow in Los Angeles and sell the property to an unsuspecting buyer for $428,600.
Childers will be sentenced on November 30, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. in courtroom 12 of the Ventura County Superior Court. He is expected to be sentenced to three years in state prison and ordered to pay restitution. Jenkins, Levy, and Hankins previously pled guilty.
The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office is the public prosecutor for the county’s 850,000 residents. The office employs approximately 280 employees including attorneys, investigators, victim advocates, and other professional support staff who strive to seek justice, ensure public safety, and protect the rights of crime victims.
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