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SUMMARY MEMO — Suspected Malicious/Fraudulent Deed Filing, Island County, WA

Prepared: 2026-08-14 · Prepared for: property owner's attorney and title company Matter: Neighbor-reported malicious deed filing affecting a cluster of parcels that includes the two subject properties below.

Important: This memo compiles public records and is not legal advice. Figures and parcel boundaries are from county sources and a title-company plat aid ("an aid," not a survey). The attorney and title company should independently verify before acting.

1. Subject properties

Owner (of record)	Geographic ID	Parcel	Situs	2026 Appraised
Rutter, Richard Ryan (mailing: "Rutter Katya Garibyan")	R32905-401-5010	401-5010	4927 Katya Ln, Langley WA 98260	$838,311
Garibyan, Arshavir	R32905-400-4740	400-4740	4924 Katya Ln, Langley WA 98260	$837,013

Both are in Section 5, Township 29, Range 3E; Katya Ln is the private access easement (the "SUB EZ" in the legals) off the public road shown as Brookhaven Rd / Bayview Rd. Both parcels derive from Short Plat SP 79‑192 (ref. Book 383/Page 4650).

2. What was reported

A neighbor provided a Chicago Title / Sentry Dynamics "geoAdvantage" plat aid dated 6/29/2026 with a red outline around a cluster of parcels (roughly Talka Ln on the north, Goldsmith Rd/Aquila Dr on the west, Pinewood Cir on the east, and the subject block on the south), reporting a malicious deed filing affecting them. No recording number, filer name, or document was available.

3. What was done (sources searched)

County GIS (ArcGIS/Sentry Dynamics) — georeferenced the red outline and enumerated the affected cluster: ~79 candidate parcels (66 fully inside + 13 straddling the line), across multiple plats (R32905‑, R32904‑, R33033‑, and the S7745 "Pinewood Circle"* short plat).
Assessor/Treasurer "Property Access" — captured current true owner, mailing address, and full deed/sales history for all 79 parcels.
Auditor recording index (Tyler EagleWeb) — searched by owner names (Rutter, Garibyan), by all 79 parcel numbers, by Section 5 and Section 4 (T29 R3E, all document types, 2024→), by book/page, and by recent date + deed type; pulled the complete recorded-document index for every affected parcel and cross-referenced for any single instrument spanning the cluster.
Washington Courts (statewide index incl. Island County Superior) — person searches on both owners.

4. Findings

True ownership is intact and legitimately chained. The subject parcels show clean chains (e.g., 401‑5010: Bloom → Rutter by Warranty Deed #4565727, 10/16/2023; 400‑4740 held by Arshavir Garibyan via Decree of Dissolution #4383543, recorded 08/06/2015).
No fraudulent/"wild" deed is indexed to the subject parcels, to the owners' names, or to Sections 4/5 in the Auditor's public index. The only documents tying multiple cluster parcels together are legitimate (road/utility easements — incl. a "Goldsmith Road LLC" access easement, PSE easements — boundary-line agreements, and developer plats by J&D Builders / CCK Partnership).
No current litigation. Richard Rutter has no Island County Superior Court case. Arshavir Garibyan appears only in 1996–1997 Island County cases (historical; unrelated to a 2026 filing).

Interpretation

The absence of any matching recorded instrument is consistent with one of the following, which the attorney/title company should confirm: 1. A "wild deed" recorded only under the filer's own name with a legal description the recorder could not tie to these parcel numbers (so it won't surface via parcel/owner/section searches); 2. A filing that was rejected or is still pending (not yet in the public index — the index showed some 8/2026 items marked "being processed"); or 3. A document the title company plotted from an escrow/title order rather than a recorded deed.

The fastest way to isolate the exact instrument is to obtain its recording number or the filer's name — see next steps.

5. Affected cluster (working list)

See 02_gis/AFFECTED_parcels_FINAL.csv (79 parcels w/ within/boundary class + legal descriptions) and 02_gis/AFFECTED_map_FINAL.png. Owners + mailing + title chains for all 79 are in 03_assessor/owners_and_deeds.csv. This list is a georeferenced estimate; the authoritative affected set is whatever the actual instrument's legal description covers.

6. Recommended next steps

To pinpoint the instrument (highest priority): - Ask the neighbor and Chicago Title (who produced the 6/29/2026 map) for the recording/ instrument number or the document behind the red outline. - Call/visit the Island County Auditor – Recording and ask them to identify any recently recorded or pending document affecting these parcels or naming an unfamiliar grantee; ask about rejected filings. (EagleWeb: https://auditor.islandcountywa.gov/recorder/web/)

Protective actions: - Enroll in the Auditor's property-fraud/recording notification alert (if offered). - Consider recording a Declaration of Nonconsent / affidavit and, if a wild deed is confirmed, pursue quiet title (RCW 7.28) and removal of the cloud; report to the Island County Sheriff and WA Attorney General consumer protection. - Notify your title insurer to open a claim/inquiry and to run their own title search against the parcels and any suspect grantee.

Once a filer/entity name is known (we can run immediately): - WA Secretary of State – Corporations & Charities and DOL UCC search on the entity; - Full EagleWeb grantor/grantee search on that name; pull the document image.

7. Key contacts

Island County Auditor (Recording): main county line 360‑679‑7366 / auditor.islandcountywa.gov
Island County Assessor: assessor.islandcountywa.gov · Treasurer: 360‑679‑7302
Washington Courts case search: https://dw.courts.wa.gov · Odyssey: https://odysseyportal.courts.wa.gov
Chicago Title (map preparer) — per the plat aid footer

8. Evidence index

All files are in the git-ignored evidence folder with SHA‑256 hashes in FILE_HASHES.csv and a descriptive inventory in inventory.csv. Highlights: - 01_source-map/Malicious_deed.png — neighbor's map (source) - 02_gis/AFFECTED_parcels_FINAL.csv, AFFECTED_map_FINAL.png, cluster_labeled_roads.png - 03_assessor/owners_and_deeds.csv, SUBJECT_481106_detail.png, SUBJECT_481044_detail.png - 04_recorded-docs/recorded_docs_all.csv, recorded_docs_by_parcel.json, SUBJECT_deed_4565727_detail.png, SUBJECT_deed_4383543_detail.png - 06_court/WAcourts_GARIBYAN_results.png - chain_of_custody.md — full capture log with source URLs + timestamps

9. Round 2 addendum — additional sources (see 07_name-sweep/ROUND2_additional_sources.md)

Chicago Title: no public search portal (professional Okta login only). Best lead — their local office can provide the recording number / copy of the document behind the 6/29/2026 map; if an owner's title policy exists, open a fraud claim.
WA Secretary of State (CCFS): vetted Goldsmith Road LLC (grantee of a 2026 multi-parcel easement) — ACTIVE, formed 06/21/2022, agent/governor James Baker (Seattle); looks like a legitimate road entity. CCFS is the tool to vet the filer's entity once known.
Plat/survey: captured the 1979 Gleason survey #3998621 (Bk 4/Pg 385, NE¼NE¼ Sec 5) — the subject block's parent-area plat (SP 79-192 family).
Treasurer/tax: 2026-27 not yet certified; no tax liens against subjects in the recording index.
Courts: Odyssey = same Island Superior data already checked; no current case. Digital Archives redundant. SmartGov permit portal exists but path unresolved (not a fraud indicator).
Bottom line unchanged: the malicious instrument is not isolable from public sources without a recording number or filer/entity name — obtain from Chicago Title or the Auditor counter.

10. RESOLVED (2026-08-15): the malicious instrument identified

The originating Island County Auditor communication named the scheme. The "malicious deed" is a sovereign-citizen land-patent quitclaim recorded by Elizabeth A. Schermer, QCD #4583924 (04/01/2025), claiming "Lots 3 & 4 and SW1/4 NW1/4 of Section 4, and Lot 1 of Section 5, T29N R3E" (171.30 ac) — a blanket description that covers the subject parcels' Section 5, T29N R3E area. Companion frauds: Shroyer QCD #4582708 and Ingalls QCD #4583923 (T30N R3E cluster). The County annotated #4583923/#4583924 as "INVALID DEED."

Why earlier parcel-indexed searches were clean: the fraudulent deed was indexed under the perpetrator's name with a whole-section land-patent legal description, NOT tied to the subject parcel numbers or owners — exactly the "mis-tied legal / stranger-grantor" case predicted in the self-index analysis. Searching the full county recording index for the section + the perpetrator names surfaced it immediately (23,561-doc 2025-2026 index).

Full detail + action plan: see 9_fraud-case\STRATEGY_secure_legal_documents.md, 9_fraud-case\COURT_findings.md, and the captured instruments in 9_fraud-case\docs. Sheriff case #26-I10572 (Det. Bo Miller); LAR pending with the Prosecutor to quiet the deeds.