Man aims to get back house
Identity thief took Waterford home
Murray West survived the Nazis and the Russians during World War II, but nothing in life prepared the 85-year-old Waterford man for Yusef (Jimmy) Danou.
In May 2003, around the time West was hospitalized for a heart attack and stroke, Danou, 40, a white-collar criminal from West Bloomfield, forged West's name on a phony deed and took West's secondary residence on Cass Lake, authorities said.
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Though Danou offered to buy the house for $750,000, West said Danou's $27,000 down payment check bounced. West said he agreed to let Danou rent the house until he could assemble a down payment, but some of the rent checks bounced, too.
West said he realized something was amiss when he left the hospital and found that Danou was renovating the house and that Danou's contractor was driving West's pickup.
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"We're not denying that Mr. West's name was forged on the deed," said Danou's lawyer, David Steingold of Detroit. "But there's more to this case than meets the eye."
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