By Erin Sullivan, Times Staff Writer
Friday, August 20, 2010
BAYONET POINT — That wasn't his signature.
Peter Derro — a former New York City police officer, avid bowler and dancer — had a strong signature, bold strokes, pressing hard on the pen. After he died on June 28, 2009, at the age of 77, his girlfriend, Denise R. Randall, then 56, showed Derro's daughter and son-in-law notarized documents that gave Randall ownership of Derro's car, all of the furnishings in his house, his bank account and five years of residency in his Beacon Woods home on Meadowbrook Lane.
But Derro's signature on the documents was light and flowery.
"That wasn't my father-in-law's signature," said Gary Souder, 52, who is married to Derro's daughter Debra Souder, 52.
The Souders contacted the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. The authorities determined that the documents were forged while Derro was in a nine-day coma before his death.
On Thursday, Randall and the notary accused of forging the documents, Jo Anne Yohn, 62, were both arrested.
Randall, now 57, is charged with uttering a forged instrument. She was released from the Pasco County jail Friday on $2,000 bail.
Yohn, who told authorities she worked for Wells Fargo Advisors in Port Richey, was charged with forgery and falsely notarizing a document. Yohn admitted that she signed Derro's name because Randall's "handwriting would be recognized by the family," a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report says. She was also released from jail Friday on $7,000 bail.
Randall also admitted the crime, telling detectives she did it so that she could stay in the home — which is what she felt Derro would have wanted, a report says.
Neither Yohn nor Randall returned calls from the Times. This is the first arrest in Florida for both women, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The Souders, who also live in Beacon Woods, said Randall took advantage of Derro. They met at a Beacon Woods Civic Association dance a few months after Derro's wife of 56 years, Esther, died of cancer in 2007. Debra Souder said her father was lost without her mother: He didn't know how to cook for himself or how to do his laundry, and he was used to being with someone. Randall told him she was a registered nurse. Derro had a bad heart, diabetes and a bad back.
"He thought, 'Boy, I struck gold here,' " Gary Souder said of Derro's wish for someone to take care of him and the house.
Randall is not a licensed nurse in Florida, records show.
The Souders did not like Randall. They said she isolated Derro and that they couldn't talk with him privately on the phone; it always had to be on speaker phone. They said she never told them that Derro was in a coma. They said they thought Derro was in the hospital with heart or other health problems, as he often was. Debra Souder and her sister, Donna Marshall Woll, took Randall to court to force her to move out of the home, which happened in late March, according to court documents.
"I'm just hoping this woman gets what she deserves," Debra Souder said Friday. "I don't want to see anybody else hurt."
Kevin Doll, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said Randall has been living with another elderly man.
"We let him know" about Randall's arrest, Doll said.
Court records show that Randall married a man on Feb. 12. He's 81. The Souders say he was a friend of Derro's.
Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Erin Sullivan can be reached at esullivan@sptimes.com or (727) 869-6229.