The 96-year-old woman whom Regina Hill is accused of scamming is suing the now-suspended Orlando city commissioner and a nonprofit organization she controls, asking a judge to order the sale of two properties that tether the woman to Hill.
Though a judge ordered Hill to stay away from the elderly woman earlier this year, the woman’s name still appears on the deeds for two Orlando-area homes closely tied to Hill, including one that has become a key piece of the criminal case against her and one whose ownership status the Orlando Sentinel recently disclosed.
The suits, filed this week in Orange County, ask a judge to order the sale of homes on Baywood Avenue and Domino Drive. The elderly woman’s name appears on the deed for both of those homes and attorney Jason O’Neal said he filed the suits on her behalf in hopes that the proceeds from the sale of the home could be used to reimburse the elderly woman for some of the money that Hill is accused of stealing from her.
Hill “helped herself to improper benefits” from the elderly woman, including her “money, credit, and identification,” the suits allege.
But attorney Fritz Scheller, who is representing Hill in her criminal case, dismissed the allegations on Wednesday in an emailed statement.
“To paraphrase Dorothy Parker, the complaints filed against Ms. Hill are not pleadings to be lightly tossed aside,” he wrote. “They should be thrown with great force. As the product of limited facts and a biased investigation, I hold the allegations in little regard. They are, in the end, another effort inspired by state-led actors to destroy an individual who has done so much for her community.”
Hill and her alleged victim first met in early 2021 after city enforcement officers reported “deplorable” conditions at the elderly woman’s residence in west Orlando’s Lake Mann neighborhood. Alerted to the problem, Hill worked to clean up the home, but a former Hill aide later told authorities of her suspicions that Hill had begun to take advantage of the woman. After a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation that spanned more than a year, Hill was indicted on several felony counts related to elder abuse in late March.
In addition to stealing money from the elderly woman, Hill is accused of leveraging her credit in order to obtain a mortgage to buy a home on Domino Drive, on the shore of Lake Mann in Hill’s district that Hill subsequently listed as her primary residence. The elderly woman, who suffers from memory loss, did not appear to understand her own involvement in the purchase of that home, FDLE says. The Orlando Sentinel is not naming her because of her age and vulnerability.
O’Neal wrote in his complaint that Hill ensured she would inherit the property after the elderly woman’s death because Hill, 59, believed she would outlive her.
The second suit concerns a home on Baywood Avenue that Hill used to own and live in. The Sentinel revealed in a story published August 19 that the home was deeded in May to a nonprofit organization controlled by Hill, along with the elderly woman, even after Hill was prohibited by court order from going to any of her alleged victim’s properties. Hill is listed as the president and registered agent on state business records for Arvonni House of Hope and Refuge, the nonprofit organization that is named on the deed along with the elderly woman.
Hill previously owned the home for 25 years before selling it to two LLCs in 2022 while she was going through bankruptcy.
She last claimed a homestead exemption on the property, which is in unincorporated Orange County, in 2008, before she was elected to the city commission. Subsequently, it appears, Hill used the Baywood Avenue property as a family home. Five people, including two of Hill’s sons, were arrested there in a 2015 raid when deputies recovered methamphetamine, cannabis and cocaine, as well as two handguns, one of which was stolen.
Earlier this year, the LLCs transferred the Baywood Avenue property for $10 to Arvonni House of Hope and Refuge as 70 percent owner and the troubled former commissioner’s alleged victim as 30 percent owner. The legal mechanism they used, known as a quitclaim deed, is generally reserved for transactions among family members or close friends, and not used for arm’s-length transactions. It’s not clear why the elderly woman’s name also appears on the deed.
But O’Neal said it appears Hill “took massive advantage,” of the elderly woman and he hopes to make it right by ensuring the woman is reimbursed for the money that was taken from her.
“Justice comes in a lot of forms,” O’Neal said. “It looks like there were injustices here and I want to get justice relating to these two houses.”
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