Stanley Dean Livingston, 45, snatched the deed from a table and fled from a meeting to close on the sale of a home. A Polk judge sentenced him to nearly four years in prison for his actions.

BARTOW — A Davenport man has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for grabbing the signed deed to a $219,000 new home and dashing out the door with it midway through a meeting to finalize the home purchase.

In September, a six-member jury deliberated 34 minutes before convicting Stanley Dean Livingston, 45, of grand theft and filing a false document against real property. Livingston, who had represented himself in the three-day trial, faced up to 30 years in prison for the grand theft conviction.

But state sentencing guidelines, which take into account past criminal history and other circumstances, called for 42 months in prison, which is what Circuit Judge Donald Jacobsen imposed on Dec. 13. He also sentenced Livingston to 10 years’ probation after his release from prison.

In his closing argument to jurors in September, Livingston said he had no intention of stealing the home, but believed that the seller, Starlight Homes Florida, already had been paid or should have been paid for the newly built home prior to the meeting to close on the sale.

According to trial testimony, Livingston had contracted to buy a house at 491 Eagle Crest Drive in Haines City’s Highland Meadows development from Starlight Homes Florida. During the May 18, 2018, meeting to close on that sale, he had asked to delay signing the mortgage documents, which would have committed him to repaying the mortgage loan, until the end of the meeting.

Midway through the meeting, Livingston excused himself to use the restroom, according to testimony, and when he returned to the meeting, he grabbed the deed, which Starlight Homes officials already had signed, and ran out the front door to his truck. Closing agent Falon Cox told jurors she had run after Livingston, but he already had driven from the parking lot.

Two days later, on a Monday, he filed the deed with the Polk County Clerk of Courts, according to testimony, and it was recorded in the county’s official records. He told the clerks he had paid $1 for the house and property, where he was now living, according to trial testimony. That afternoon, he walked to the Highland Meadows sales office to tell representatives for the developer that he now owned the house and to leave him alone. They called the Haines City Police Department, and Livingston was arrested later that day.

During the trial, Livingston offered no testimony or evidence to support his position that he hadn’t intended to steal the house.

Within hours of the jury’s verdict, Jacobsen signed an order declaring the deed filed by Livingston to be void, returning the house to Starlight Homes Florida’s ownership.

After his arrest, Livingston had remained free on $18,000 bail until the jury convicted him. Jacobsen remanded him into custody following his conviction in September, and at sentencing, he gave Livingston credit for the three and a half months he’d spent in the Polk County Jail awaiting sentencing.

Suzie Schottelkotte can be reached at suzie.schottelkotte@theledger.com or 863-533-9070. Follow her on Twitter @southpolkscene.