Cypress found guilty on 24 counts

By Linda Cicoira

After deliberating for about three hours Wednesday, a Northampton Circuit Court jury convicted Lisa Renia Cypress, chief of the Accomack Indian Nation, of 24 counts of maliciously filing a false lien or encumbrance in 2024.

The 12-member panel acquitted her of another 24 counts of conspiracy to file the quitclaims and three counts of soliciting others to file them. A charge alleging she violated the conditions of her bond was not prosecuted.

Cypress, 61, a registered nurse who lives in Decatur, Georgia, denied all the charges and represented herself in court. She claimed she held patents of ownership to the properties in question, which included Indiantown Park, PNC Bank in Eastville, historic Eyre Hall Farm, the 1765 Eyreville brick house and property, Smith Beach parcels, Hermitage Farm, parcels in the Bay Creek development in Cape Charles, Bayside Village parcels, Pocahontas Farm, and the Rosenwald School in Cape Charles.

“A land dispute is not a crime,” Cypress told the jury in closing arguments. “It is a civil issue. I know that you are truly an intelligent jury. This is a dispute over land and property. A title search only went back 60 years. The patent was from the 1600s. If you remove the quitclaim, let the buyer beware. That’s what’s been happening historically.”

Judge Lynwood W. Lewis Jr. allowed Cypress to remain free on bond pending sentencing June 8, on the condition that she cooperate with the probation department, which will complete a long-form presentence report. Commonwealth’s Attorney Jack Thornton took no position regarding the bond. Cypress could face more than 300 years in prison.

Clerk of Court Traci Johnson testified, “I am not authorized to look beyond the face of the deed to check its legality. But I did report all of these to the commonwealth’s attorney. Every document I record is treated as if it were my very own.”

Johnson added that her office is required to record documents that meet the filing standards. “If it looks like a deed, smells like a deed, and is properly notarized and the fees are paid,” she said, the document must be recorded.

It cost about $800 to file the deeds. Judge Lewis approved an order declaring the 24 quitclaims invalid and striking them from the record.

Cypress declined to comment after the verdicts were read, saying she would speak at a later time.

Evidence presented during the trial showed that a million-dollar-plus property sale in the Bay Creek development fell through after Cypress filed an encumbrance against the property in 2024. The land and house were sold a couple of months ago, but the company reportedly lost about $70,000 because of the delay.

The solicitation charges involved filings by other Accomack Nation members: Cynthia Manley, Naomi Pearl Cypress, and Thomas Patterson.