A Two Thousand Dollar Nebraska Land Purchase Leads to a Federal Fraud Case
The county road was empty as I drove the three miles into town, the diesel engine running cool and steady under the midday sun. I parked the tractor in the gravel lot behind the county courthouse, next to a yellow road grader.
The limestone corridors of the building were cool and smelled of pine floor cleaner and old paper files. Dolores Vance sat behind the tall wooden counter in the clerk’s office, her ink-stained index finger tracing a column in a heavy leather ledger.
She looked up over the top of her reading glasses as the wooden gate clicked shut.
“I have been waiting for you, Arthur,” she said in her dry, slow drawl.
She reached into a green metal drawer behind her chair and pulled out a single sheet of heavy parchment paper. The ink was dark and fresh, showing the legal description of my two hundred acres without any corporate listings or liens.
“This is the updated agricultural deed certificate,” Dolores said, her finger tapping the counter to emphasize the description.
“What is the recording fee?” I asked, reaching for my wallet.
