Doubling Down With the Derricos: Deon's Dropped Real Estate Fraud Charges Explained
It just 2013 when the Doubling Down With the Derricos family first shot to fame. Dad to miracle quintuplets Deon had a rather short stint in the spotlight, however. By 2014, he was facing multiple charges, including felonies. It took the senior Derrico five long years to get acquitted of the rental fraud charges. Soon after the charges were dropped, the father landed the TLC show with his 14 children and wife Karen.
Las Vegas-based couple Deon and Karen were the talk of the town when they became a family of 11 in 2013. The mother gave birth to five babies – all natural – at once. The family was soon featured on The Today Show and made headlines in top news websites. Deon, 43 at the time, was a real estate investor who always spoke with his wife Karen (34) about wanting a large family and never using fertility drugs. The quintuplets Deniko, Dariz, Deonee, Daician, and Daiten joined their other Derrico siblings, seven-year-old daughter Darian, three-year-old son Deon and twin boys Dallas and Denver, aged two. But Deon Derrico’s happiness was short-lived when he was charged with multiple felony counts for his involvement in a fraudulent title scheme.
In April 2014, Deon Derrico along with his partner, Olujuwon Devin Bryant (23), were facing 16 counts, including 10 felonies. As per NV.gov, the charges included theft of over $3,500, false representation concerning title, pattern of false representation concerning title, multiple transactions involving fraud or deceit in the course or enterprise or occupation, and notarization of signature of person not in presence of notary public. The statement notes that between June 2012 and February 2013, the Doubling Down with the Derricos father and Bryant had “preyed on unsuspecting victims by forging quitclaim deeds to victims’ properties to force a change of ownership and putting the properties into the name of REFC Enterprises, LLC, for the purpose of collecting rent from unsuspecting tenants.”
According to the Las Vegas Sun, Deon used various aliases like Derrick Derrico, Marlo Abbott, and Damon Mitchell when he fraudulently took over two houses. A quitclaim deed is a document that is used to transfer ownership of a real property from one party to another. In Deon’s case, the homeowners didn’t have any idea of transferring property to him. Per the prosecutors' statements, he had forged their signatures on the documents. One of the homeowners was John Marshall, who apparently died two years prior. But the Doubling Down with the Derricos star cooperated with the authorities for five long years until the jurors reached their final verdict in October 2018.
The authorities waited for more victims to come forward, but no one did. Las Vegas Sun documented Deon’s attorney saying that, “An investor, Derrico would take over properties that were upside-down during the recession through quitclaim deeds in which the embattled owners would sign over their homes.” Earlier Deon spoke to Review Journal about identifying abandoned homes and offering to buy them for a few thousand dollars, but only after taking quitclaim deeds from the owners. This way, the mortgage remained in the original home owner’s name, but Deon would rent out the houses to tenants. This was done to prevent homeowner associations from charging fines. The deed thus, helped the TLC celeb to buy the house months later in a short sale after the foreclosure. “They’d get a couple of thousand dollars, and I’d get the deed. My goal was to work with the banks and eventually buy the house. This was a long-term investment for me,” said Deon in the interview.
All charges against the Doubling Down With the Derricos dad were dropped by August 2018 and Deon believed that he was attacked because of his family’s notoriety. He was contacted by producer Lori Rothschild Ansaldi immediately after the charges were dropped, and the father of 14 landed himself a reality TV show. Happy endings do exist, and who knows that better than the Doubling Down with the Derricos family!
Doubling Down With the Derricos airs Tuesdays at 10 pm EST on TLC.
Source: NV.gov, Las Vegas Sun, Review Journal