Registrar vs. robosigners

The head of the Registry of Deeds in Salem is challenging lenders’ handling of mortgage records; some say he’s overstepping his authority

A county registrar doesn’t usually take on major US lenders, send out rapid fire press releases, and investigate the home loans of celebrities such as Sarah Palin.

But John O’Brien Jr., head of the Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds in Salem, says he’s on a mission to protect the integrity of property records.

O’Brien, 59, is gaining national recognition among housing advocates, and rankling local real estate attorneys, for his aggressive actions – which most recently included the rejection of property documents signed by alleged “robosigners.’’

He also has called his registry a “crime scene’’ riddled with fraudulent paperwork, and last month O’Brien alleged that Palin unknowingly bought an Arizona home whose paperwork was signed by robosigners – bank representatives who didn’t properly review mortgage documents. (Palin did not respond to a request for comment.)

“Banks have participated in a national epidemic of fraud that has clouded or damaged the chain of title of hundreds of thousands of American homeowners all across the country,’’ O’Brien said in one of his many press releases. “It would be a dereliction of my duties as the keeper of the records to record these documents and any other documents that contain questionable signatures.’’

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