Brooks Hill Area Land-Deed Fraud Investigation Whidbey Island · Island County, WA
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Are the SUBJECT parcels clouded by the fraudulent deeds? — Evidence-based analysis

Subjects: R32905-401-5010 (Rutter, 4927 Katya Ln) and R32905-400-4740 (Garibyan, 4924 Katya Ln) Date: 2026-08-15 | Not legal advice — confirm with your title company's plat examiner / a licensed surveyor and your attorney.

Short answer

Yes — for practical purposes your two parcels are within the affected area and should be treated as clouded, but the precise legal-description overlap is a plat-level question that only your title company's plat examiner or a licensed surveyor can resolve definitively. Here is exactly what the records show and where the uncertainty lies.

Which fraudulent deed is relevant

Of the three land-patent quitclaims, only Schermer QCD #4583924 touches your township. It claims:

"...Lots 3 and 4, and the SW¼ NW¼ of Section 4, and Lot 1 of Section 5, all in T29N R3E... 171.30 acres..." The other two (Shroyer #4582708, Ingalls #4583923) claim land in T30N R3E (Sections 29/32/33) — a different township to the north — so they do not describe your land.

What is CERTAIN (from the county records we captured)

  1. Same section. Both your parcels are in Section 5, T29N R3E — the exact section Schermer's deed names. Your legals: "IN E/2 NE: BG NWCR S/2 SE NE..." (both), i.e., in the E½ of the NE¼, specifically the S½ of the SE¼ NE¼, platted as SP 79-192.
  2. You were inside the affected-area map. In the georeferenced affected cluster both parcels are classed SUBJECT (inside the neighbor's red outline); Paul Neis (R32905-532-4810, "Lot 7 SP 82-33") is WITHIN. All three sit inside the affected outline.
  3. You are spatially embedded among the "Government Lot 1" parcels. Parcels expressly described as "IN GL 1" of Section 5 (e.g., R32905-467-4150, -496-4441, -547-4090, and the -380-53xx group that combines "N/2 SE NE & GL1") occupy centroids spanning lon −122.4474…−122.4413, lat 48.0313…48.0364. Your parcels' centroids (−122.4424/−122.4436, lat 48.0321/48.0323) fall inside that footprint — you are interspersed with the Government-Lot-1 parcels, not clearly outside them.

What is NUANCED (needs authoritative confirmation)

  1. Your legal description is by aliquot part + short plat ("E/2 NE / S/2 SE NE ... SP 79-192"), NOT expressly "Government Lot 1." Schermer's deed claims Government Lot 1 of Section 5 — a specific ~40–50-acre fractional (meander) lot from the original 1800s GLO survey. Whether the metes-and-bounds of your short-plat lots physically lie inside the boundary of that Government Lot 1 is a plat-overlay determination. The parcel-level records are consistent with overlap (same section, embedded among GL1 parcels, inside the affected map) but do not by themselves prove the exact boundary. The authoritative sources are the BLM/GLO official plat for T29N R3E Sec 5 plus your title company's plat examiner (who indexes by land, not name).

Practical bottom line (why this matters even without exact overlap)

  1. Regardless of the aliquot-vs-Government-Lot technicality:
  2. the fraudulent deed claims your section with a sweeping "land patent" theory;
  3. your parcels are inside the affected cluster; and
  4. title underwriters are declining to insure transactions in this area (per the Auditor's email) until the deeds are cleared. So a title company will very likely treat your title as clouded/affected too. Treat your property as clouded and pursue the same remedies as the other owners (certified copies of #4583924, an owner's title-insurance claim + written underwriting denial, and quiet-title / the County's LAR action). Do not contact or pay the filers.

The one question to put to your title company / surveyor (verbatim)

"Does the boundary of Government Lot 1 of Section 5, T29N R3E (per the official GLO plat) overlap my parcels R32905-401-5010 and R32905-400-4740 (SP 79-192, in the E½ NE / S½ SE¼NE¼)? If so, fraudulent Quitclaim Deed #4583924 (Schermer, rec. 04/01/2025) directly describes my land; please confirm it as a title exception and its effect on insurability."

Correction to an earlier statement

An earlier note said Neis's parcel is "clouded by Lot 1 of Section 5." More precisely: Neis (R32905-532-4810) is "Lot 7 of Short Plat 82-33" — an aliquot/short-plat description, the same situation as your parcels. He, you, and the other cluster owners share the identical open question of exact Government-Lot-1 overlap, and the identical practical cloud.