Island County · Township 29 North, Range 3 East

Fraudulent land-deed filings affecting the Brooks Hill / Katya Lane area

Three individuals recorded sovereign-citizen “land-patent” quitclaim deeds that purport to claim large tracts of Whidbey Island land — including the section that contains our homes. The County recorded them (recording makes a document public, not valid) and later annotated all three as “INVALID DEED.” This site documents exactly what was filed, whose property is affected, and what to do about it.

Read the summary Am I affected? What to do

fraudulent quitclaim deeds recorded (Feb–Apr 2025)

flagged by the County as INVALID DEED

~869

acres of Whidbey Island land falsely claimed across the three deeds

23,561

county recordings indexed & searched to isolate the fraud

The essentials

What was filed

Quitclaim deeds in which each filer names themselves as both grantor and grantee, claiming to be the “successor in interest” to an 1800s U.S. Land Patent. All three were notarized by the same Seattle notary and filed within a five-week window.

See the actual documents →

Why it matters to us

The Schermer deed (#4583924) blankets Section 5 and part of Section 4, T29N R3E — the ground under the Katya Lane parcels, the Neis property, and the Wayne property. Even though the deed is invalid, title companies are declining to insure sales/refinances in the area until it is cleared of record.

See affected properties →

Where it stands

Island County Sheriff fraud investigation #26-I10572 (Det. Bo Miller) is open. A Legal Action Request is pending with the Prosecutor (via the Auditor) to quiet the deeds. No Island County court case has been filed yet.

See the timeline →

How we know

We downloaded and searched the County’s full recording index (23,561 instruments), pulled and OCR’d the actual document images, and verified identities against King County property records and the state notary registry.

How we investigated →

With gratitude to Paul Neis. Paul first spotted these malicious filings and alerted the neighborhood, which set the County investigation in motion. This resource exists because he raised the alarm. See his property summary on the Affected Properties page.

For attorneys: a dedicated Legal Team section provides a hyperlinked exhibit index, statutes and causes of action, the chain of custody, a quiet-title / LAR roadmap, and the title-insurance damages angle.

Update — a commercial operation behind the filings. Public Secretary of State records show these were not three isolated individuals: Gold Dust Title Company, LLC (formed March 20, 2025; sole governor Douglas “Steven” Shroyer) operates a Langley, WA principal office and a website that markets and sells the “land patent” model — “Land Patent Research,” quitclaim-deed preparation, “County Auditor Legal Filings,” and a “title insurance bypass.” Its registered agent is Ballard Law Group, whose partner John Scott Hicks shares the name of the notary on all three deeds. See the Gold Dust Title Company and Ballard Law Group pages, and how the people connect on Named Individuals.

Real, present harm — a neighbor’s blocked sale. Owner Kathy Kundert is actively trying to sell her Langley property at 4896 Lucy Ln (Section 4), and title companies are declining to insure the sale until the fraudulent deeds are cleared. Her property summary shows how these bogus filings stall honest transactions today.