HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — A story ABC13 Investigates first broke led to Harris County District Attorney Christian Menefee filing a civil suit against the two men featured in our original report.

It’s part of a larger effort to prevent local residents from being swindled out of their hard-earned money.

In the summer of 2023, ABC13 was there when retired teacher Wanda Jackson’s belongings were dumped on her front lawn. She was evicted from the house she had lived in since 1977.

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Last February, our investigation found that while recovering from COVID-19, Jackson unwittingly signed over the deed to his home to Malcolm Pryor, a contractor. Pryor then executed a series of complicated real estate transactions that resulted in the sale of Jackson’s home to an investor named James Mayer.

Mayer then sold the house back to Pryor a few months later at a profit, records show.

Then Pryor couldn’t pay the mortgage on the house, and it went into foreclosure. Jackson would end up being evicted.

Our reporting led to Pryor being criminally charged with mortgage fraud by the Harris County District Attorney’s office. Menefee’s staff noticed, too.

“We’ve been looking at the scams for several months, but the ABC13 story brought Ms. Wanda’s situation into our view,” Menefee said. “Since then, we’ve really tried to dig and investigate, do everything we can to make sure what happened to her doesn’t happen to the people of Harris County.”

On Wednesday, Menefee and his team announced that they had filed a lawsuit against both Pryor and Mayer, seeking to shut down their businesses. The lawsuit alleges that Pryor placed a false lien on Jackson’s home and that Mayer made a lot of money from the fraudulent transactions.

“Mr. Pryor certainly tried to defraud this house and actually succeeded in doing so,” Menefee said. “As for Mr. Mayer, the other, it’s highly suspicious that someone would buy a property, hold it for six months, and sell it to the same person at a profit.”

Menefee says his other goal is to let all Harris County residents know that if they think they are the victim of questionable business practices, to call the Harris County District Attorney’s office.

The office launched a website, ScamFreeHC.comto make it easier for victims to report possible fraud.

Jackson, who appeared at the event Wednesday, would like to see the lawsuit succeed, but is also focused on preventing future victims.

“It makes you feel a little better that the county attorney is out here trying to help others. It makes me feel so much better because when people don’t know what to do, they are desperate. Now, I still don’t know. I don’t have your house back,” she said.

Jackson says she’s also praying to eventually make it home.

Her old home is currently listed for sale, although Jackson doesn’t have the funds to buy it back.

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