SAN DIEGO – A man accused of fraudulently claiming ownership of properties in San Diego and Chula Vista by filing bogus grant deeds with county authorities pleaded not guilty Thursday to felony charges.

Maurice Simmons, 31, faces eight counts, including residential burglary, grand theft and filing fraudulent documents with the San Diego County Recorder's Office. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 16 years in prison.

San Diego Superior Court Judge David M. Szumowski set Simmons' bail at $200,000, a reduction from the previous amount of $250,000.

Deputy District Attorney Marlene Coyne told the judge Thursday that Simmons filed documents with the county in October related to a condominium in San Diego and five houses in Chula Vista. The prosecutor said Simmons lived at the condo on Arizona Street illegally after a bank foreclosed on the property.

She said Simmons has another criminal case pending in the South Bay and was out on bail when he allegedly committed the more recent crimes. Simmons is charged in the earlier case with robbery, residential burglary and grand theft.

Defense lawyer Brian Watkins told the judge Thursday that Simmons was living in the condo on Arizona Street as a renter when the house went into foreclosure. Watkins said his client received no money through any transactions involving the properties.

Law enforcement investigators in San Diego and Riverside counties have said they have seen a recent trend in which individuals claim ownership of distressed homes by filing fraudulent deeds. They then move people into the vacant homes, in some cases by hiring a locksmith to change the locks.

The perpetrators filing the deeds say they are able to do so under the cloak of a religious order known as the Sovereign Solomon Brothers Archbishop Corporation Sole, authorities said.

Coyne said outside the courtroom Thursday that the corporation was listed as the grantee on the documents in the Simmons case. However, she would not say whether any squatters were discovered in the Chula Vista homes.

The case is still under investigation, she said.

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