ANDERSON, Ind. — A Madison Circuit Court 3 jury found a 52-year-old Anderson woman guilty Tuesday of theft, fraud, forgery, and three counts of obstruction of justice, all felonies, in a case involving property documents signed the day her mother died.
According to a probable-cause affidavit filed in 2023, Kenyatta Carter reported a suspected forgery to Anderson police in September 2022. Carter told police that she and her brother, Maurice May, were listed on the deed to their mother’s Anderson home and had completed property paperwork in August 2020.
Carter alleged that Malaika Bell, her younger sister, forged their mother Willie Mae May’s name to put the deed in Bell’s name. The affidavit says the documents were signed and dated June 21, 2022, the day May died. Carter also told police that Bell said their mother had instructed her to sign the deed.
The affidavit says Robert and Chastity Glazebrook told investigators that Bell had contacted them about notarizing documents. Robert Glazebrook said he and his wife met with Bell at the Anderson home on June 21, 2022, after Bell said she held power of attorney for her mother. Chastity Glazebrook notarized the documents, the affidavit says. The couple told investigators they did not see Willie Mae May or witness her sign the documents.
The affidavit identifies Chastity Glazebrook as the notary on an affidavit of survivorship and a warranty deed. Investigators compared the signature on those documents with examples of May’s signatures on checks from 2019 and 2020. Detective Travis Thompson of Anderson Police Department wrote in the affidavit that the handwriting on the deed documents did not match the check signatures.
Medical records cited in the affidavit describe an in-home visit with May on June 17, 2022, four days before her death. The affidavit quotes the records as describing May as “minimally responsive” and “unable to communicate.” It also quotes the medical report as saying May appeared to be “transitioning to actively dying.” The affidavit says May was receiving morphine and lorazepam.
The affidavit says investigators obtained medical records, signature examples, and copies of the deed documents through an attorney representing May’s estate. It also says the estate’s attorney told Thompson that Bell did not have power of attorney for May. The affidavit lists the home’s approximate value as $170,000.
Bell was set for 8:30 a.m. Nov. 24. Bell faces a maximum possible sentence of 22 years, the prosecutor said in a news release.
Deputy prosecutors Gina Koorsen and Jon Jones presented the state’s case.
