Realtor signs do not resuscitate order, wills himself $1.6M in property, Florida cops say

A Realtor carried out an elaborate scheme to will himself $1.6 million in property by forging power of attorney documents and signing a do not resuscitate order the day before a man was taken off life support, Florida investigators said.

Jason Valiant, 45, wanted to develop the oceanfront land into condos or a hotel, Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood said in a Dec. 6 news release.

A couple in their 60s in a domestic partnership hired Valiant to sell their property, which was only in one of their names, but Valiant gave them “fake lowball offers,” according to the sheriff and an affidavit.

When both of the men got sick and were hospitalized in May and June, Valiant gave himself power of attorney and health care surrogate power over them, investigators said.

One of the men was very sick and would later die, but he had three properties that were only in his name, not his partner’s, investigators said.

Valiant signed fraudulent documents and then willed himself the home and two other properties, deputies said. He signed a do not resuscitate order for the man who owned the properties, and medical staff removed him from life support the next day, causing Valiant, rather than the man’s surviving partner, to become the owner of the properties, according to deputies.

An investigator questioned Valiant about why the man who died “would sign over the deeds to his properties and transfer every asset he possessed to Valiant, a real estate agent with no personal relationship to him, and not his partner of 30 plus years,” according to the affidavit.

“Valiant’s only response was to state everything was done by an attorney and was legal,” investigators wrote in the affidavit.

Valiant is also accused of draining the couple’s bank accounts, stealing their pickup truck and using their credit cards for personal expenses such as teeth whitening, dinners at restaurants and auto detailing.

Two of the properties Valiant acquired were oceanfront parcels of land on Flagler Beach that Valiant discussed developing with another real estate agent, investigators found.

That other agent is also charged with two counts of being an accessory after the fact. Deputies say she knew about the scheme and helped Valiant fabricate the fake life estate deed and power of attorney documents.

Valiant was arrested Dec. 5 in Flagler County on an arrest warrant out of Volusia County, according to Chitwood.

Valiant is charged with organized scheme to defraud, exploitation of an elderly or disabled adult, grand theft over $100,000, grand theft of a vehicle, criminal use of personal ID information and illegal use of credit cards, according to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office.

Volusia County includes the Daytona Beach area and is about a 50-mile drive northeast from Orlando.

This story was originally published December 6, 2024 at 6:37 PM with the headline "Realtor signs do not resuscitate order, wills himself $1.6M in property, Florida cops say."