The saga began on Oct. 27. That day, a homeowner identified as Thomas Growney in court documents contacted Scottsdale police. He\u2019d received a warning from the Maricopa County Recorder\u2019s Office<\/a> that said the title deed to a property he\u2019s owned since 1994 had been suddenly transferred to a complete stranger whose name he didn\u2019t recognize. That name was Rachael Cossette. Growney, who declined to discuss the case with Phoenix New Times, told police he hadn\u2019t agreed to transfer anything to anyone.<\/p>\n Four days later, on Halloween, Rowan received an inquiry about purchasing the property. This was fairly typical for Rowan, a real estate agent who specializes in buying houses outright. But what followed was anything but typical.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhen news happens, Phoenix New Times is there \u2014<\/strong> \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re aiming to raise $30,000 by December 31, so we can continue covering what matters most to you. If New Times matters to you, please take action and contribute today, so when news happens, our reporters can be there.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n If the women had known Rowan\u2019s background, they might have picked a different mark. After leaving his job as a commercial pilot, he founded a check-fraud protection company that included clients like Berkshire Hathaway and the Department of Defense. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of in my blood to look for documents and look for red flags,\u201d he said. He saw several.<\/p>\n The first red flag began flapping when the name on the title \u2014 Cossette\u2019s \u2014 didn\u2019t match the person he spoke to on the phone. A man initially answered and then passed Rowan off to someone who identified herself as Jennifer Greer. (In court paperwork, her first name is listed as Lezlie.) Greer declined to put Cossette on the phone, saying she \u201chas social anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n More red flags: Greer also asked for an unusually large sum of money immediately \u2014 a non-refundable $10,000 deposit. Rowan also said Cossette\u2019s signature and that of the notary public on their paperwork contained suspiciously similar elements.<\/p>\n Then there was the state of the house. Greer suggested he see the house to appraise whether it was worth the $400,000 she was asking for it. Scottsdale police later learned that one or both of the women had changed the locks on the house and provided a lockbox for prospective buyers.<\/p>\n When Rowan arrived, he opened the door to a dilapidated property. \u201cIt\u2019s been abandoned for a long time,\u201d he said. \u201cSo when I opened up the door, it has about three feet of garbage all through the house. The ceiling, you can see daylight, and it had been just raining in, and the mold was about four feet up on the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n Rowan said this is typically the type of property targeted by fraudsters: empty and mortgage-free. \u201cThese people are looking for minimal review, minimal interaction with minimal number of people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Rowan\u2019s go-to title agent, Tammy Smith, was separately engaged in the usually staid, plodding work of making sure the ownership papers were in order. The Scottsdale property shouldn\u2019t have been any different \u2014 except Rowan already had doubts. He told Smith that there might be something off with this one.<\/p>\n And, indeed, something did seem off. Smith\u2019s spidey-sense was tingling.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n For one thing, it was the wrong type of deed. Smith was expecting a beneficiary deed, which would have aligned with Cossette\u2019s story about inheriting the property. \u201dThat wasn\u2019t the deed they used,\u201d Smith said. The short, three-week span between the deed being transferred to Cossette and the initiation of the sale was also unusually fast, Smith said.\u00a0<\/p>\n When Rowan finally followed up with Smith to share what he\u2019d learned, he says she immediately sounded the alarm.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s definitely fraud here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u2018Get her!\u2019<\/p>\n The team\u2019s next move was obvious: After some sleuthing, they identified Growney as the real owner. (Rowan did not want to share Growney\u2019s name, but he is listed as the victim in court paperwork.) They contacted him and learned he had already notified Scottsdale police. Now, the owner filed a police report.<\/p>\n But Rowan was at a loss about what to do next. He and Smith discussed getting the word out to the rest of the local real estate network, especially other title agents. But Rowan felt that wasn\u2019t doing enough. Would the two alleged fraudsters try to sell the property to another investor? He knew he had a tight window before Cossette and Greer were in the wind.<\/p>\n Sounding alarm bells might work, but Rowan liked the idea of playing a more active role in the case. He invited the Scottsdale police to collaborate on a sting. The police said they were in.<\/p>\n Scottsdale police spokesperson Aaron Bolin said that working with civilians in a case like this was unusual, as was the speed with which the sting operation was thrown together. \u201cThe situation was unique in that it allowed civilians to be such a close part of what ended up being the arrest of the suspects for this title fraud case,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n That Rowan had already had a meeting arranged with the women was an asset. At 11 a.m. on Nov. 6, Greer and Cossette would meet at Smith\u2019s University Title office in north Phoenix. Smith and Rowan would be waiting, along with a half dozen police officers inside the offices and several unmarked cars outside in the parking lot. Ideally, Cossette would sign the sale documents before the police swooped in.<\/p>\n But something was wrong. Hours passed with no sign of the sellers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey kept texting me, and I was calling them. \u2018We\u2019re fifteen minutes away, we\u2019re fifteen minutes away,\u2019 and, of course, we\u2019ve got a lot of resources there waiting for these people to show up,\u201d Rowan said. \u201cAnd at some point, it\u2019s like, OK, they\u2019re probably not gonna come, and they\u2019re playing some game.\u201d<\/p>\n The police were almost ready to call it a day. Uniformed officers broke cover \u2014 just as Cossette and Greer arrived. Smith said she later learned from cops watching the parking lot that the suspects had entered and left the lot four times before they swallowed the bait and finally walked through the outer foyer and opened the glass door of the office\u2019s reception area.<\/p>\n Yajaira \u201cYaya\u201d Ramirez was manning the front desk when Cossette and Greer walked in \u2014 and then right back out.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cShe was like halfway to my desk and I\u2019m assuming she saw something,\u201d Ramirez said. According to Rowan, that \u201csomething\u201d was a uniformed officer in the office at the end of the hallway.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew there was cops inside the building, so I went towards (Smith). I was like, \u2018Hey, she just like left the building.\u2019 And from there, I recall one of the detectives or a police officer, she\u2019s like, \u2018Get her! get her!\u2019\u201d Ramirez said.<\/p>\n Bolin said the women were able to return to their black SUV, which was driven by a third person, but were eventually nabbed along the road outside Smith\u2019s office.<\/p>\n A grand jury indicted Cossette on four felony counts \u2014 two forgery counts and two fraud counts, ranging from class 2 to class 5 felonies. Greer was indicted on felony 2 fraudulent schemes and artifices and felony 3 aggravated taking the identity of another person or entity. Both women also had outstanding warrants and were on probation for fraud and drug offenses at the time of the arrest, per police paperwork. Each was given $10,000 release bond but appear to still be in custody.<\/p>\n Title alert<\/p>\n
Your support strengthens our coverage.<\/strong><\/strong>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Title-Fraud-Home.jpg\")
The Scottsdale home that Rachael Cossette and Jennifer Greer allegedly tried to sell in a title fraud scheme.<\/p>\n![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/John-Rowan.jpg\")
Real estate agent John Rowan.<\/p>\n