OKALOOSA COUNTY, Fla. (WKRG) — A North Carolina man has been charged with stealing the proceeds from a Destin real estate transaction designed to pay off a property on Okeechobee Cove.

47-year old Donald Washington III was arrested July 5 by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office on a charge of grand theft of more than $100,000. The victim says when she closed on her property on March 1, 2019, the title company received more than $500,000 from the buyers. The title company wired more than $200,000 to Washington, of Dew Global Finance, to pay off the loan.

An OCSO investigator says the funds earmarked to pay off the victim’s mortgage instead were used by Washington to pay his personal expenses.