Alleged home stealer could face more charges

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By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Cobb County woman accused of stealing three million-dollar metro Atlanta homes could be charged with trying to heist nine more.

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Susan Weidman sits in handcuffs Tuesday on the porch of the foreclosed Decatur home she claimed squatters' rights on, then rented out. A DeKalb County grand jury indicted Weidman and two others Tuesday for an alleged criminal scheme that spanned three metro counties.

Marcus Garner, mgarner@ajc.com Susan Weidman sits in handcuffs Tuesday on the porch of the foreclosed Decatur home she claimed squatters' rights on, then rented out. A DeKalb County grand jury indicted Weidman and two others Tuesday for an alleged criminal scheme that spanned three metro counties.

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A DeKalb County Superior Court judge granted Susan Loraine Weidman a $60,000 bond Thursday despite a prosecutor’s demand that she remain in jail.

“She’s brazen, she’s a forger, she poses as false people, she’s not a good candidate, Judge,” DeKalb assistant district attorney John Melvin told Judge Tangela M. Barrie. “Next Thursday, we’re going to re-indict her for conspiracy to engage in the same kind of act in nine other properties all the way of to Blue Ridge.”

Earlier this month, Weidman was charged with racketeering in a 40-page indictment claiming she and two other men ran an elaborate scam to seize foreclosed homes from the banks that owned the homes.

Weidman used the courts to claim squatters’ rights, then put fraudulent tenants in homes in well-to-do Cumming, Sandy Springs and Decatur neighborhoods using bogus leasing paperwork while fending off eviction attempts with letters threatening legal action, prosecutors alleged.

But on Thursday, Weidman’s defense attorney Darryl Queen argued that what she did was a victimless crime.

“This is a real estate dispute,” Queen said. “I don’t know who the victims are. I don’t even see that there are any victims.”

Queen told the court Weidman was a single parent and mother of two – a 20-year-old Kennesaw State University sophomore and a 17-year-old daughter in high school – who was also the caregiver for her 80-year-old mother.

“Ms. Weidman is the classic soccer mom,” he said, asking that her bond be set at only $25,000. “To pay $55 a day to hold her in jail is unconscionable.”

Melvin countered, saying Queen’s assessment of Weidman as a “sophisticated squatter” was oversimplifying the depth and damage of her scheme.

He noted that she fabricated a law firm and posed as one of the firm’s partners to write threatening letters to banks or to real estate agents who challenged her rights to the homes she’d stolen.

And, at least in the home in Decatur, there was a revolving door of people participating in what Melvin said new evidence shows was illicit activities.

“There was a steady stream of traffic at all hours,” he said. “And in some properties, we found evidence of methamphetamine use.”

Queen suggested that the case should be held in a lower court.

“We don’t think it is a RICO case,” he said. “The only person I see complaining is Mr. Melvin.”

But Barrie was troubled that Weidman was able to create documents that fooled police, or at least stymied their attempts to kick her and her tenants out of the homes.

“I am concerned that there is evidence of real estate activity,” beyond the houses Weidman was accused of seizing in the original indictment,” Barrie said.

In addition to the increased bond amount, Weidman was ordered to remain in Cobb County, except for court-related matters, was given a curfew of 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., and was ordered to have no activity dealing with real estate until her case is resolved.