Former realtor charged with 13 felonies

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - A Lafayette real estate broker faces 13 felony charges for allegedly forging several signatures on land contracts.

42-year-old Brenda Hatfield was charged Monday morning in Tippecanoe Circuit Court with 12 counts of Forgery and one count of Corrupt Business Influence.

According to court documents, Hatfield told police her CPA told her she could decrease her tax indebtedness if she put a lot of her properties under land contracts and received tax exemptions. She said she put together the paperwork and intended to meet with her tenants around November 2009. But the day before the filing deadline, Hatfield said she had her assistants sign the documents that had not been signed.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Hatfield's assistant Kelli Stump told police her boss asked if she could borrow the exemptions of Kelli's mother and friend. Hatfield told police she "whited-out" buyers' information on a legitimate notary page then made photo copies of later transactions.

The document says Stump told police that Hatfield brought a large stack of files into the office on a day in January 2010 and told her assistants it was the last day to file, or Hatfield would be stuck with high taxes for another year. Stump said Hatfield told her and her other assistant, Korilynn Perdue, where to sign the document, and told them to sign like the tenants, so they wouldn't raise any red flags.

Stump told police that Hatfield said the tenants wouldn't care. According to court documents, Perdue told police that Hatfield said the tenants had given permission for her to sign the forms, as she didn't have time to get them all signed. Perdue also said she recognized some of the names on the forms as friends of Hatfield.

Hatfield was an independent contractor working for the Coldwell Banker Shook Agency. Charlie Shook said Coldwell Banker Shook Agency has had no relationship with Hatfield since the day he learned of the allegations against her. Shook said their relationship was "formally terminated upon receipt of the results of the investigation."
He said the property involved in the case wasn't represented by Coldwell Banker Shook.

The charges are a result of a joint investigation between the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Department and the Lafayette Police Department.