12/06/2025
Will Tonda Curry have Joe Arrested?
Udo Birnbaum is a 90 year old man who formerly lived in Van Zandt County. He owned a farmhouse on approximately 170 acres of land between Eustace and Athens, Texas.
Many years ago, he got into debt. To protect his farm, he signed a deed conveying it to his neighbor, Gwendolyn Thibodeaux. She was asked to hold it for him "in trust." A few weeks later, Gwendolyn signed a deed returning the property back to Birnbaum, but forgot to record it in the deed records.
Gwendolyn later died. Her husband, Louis Thibodeaux, inherited the property. As Birnbaum's neighbor and best friend. Thibodeaux continued to hold the property in trust, all the while actively helping Birnbaum to manage the farm.
Thibodeaux later got sick and moved to Sulpher, Louisiana, where he was put in a nursing home. Louisiana state officials started looking into Thibodeaux's assets trying to determine what could be sold to pay for his nursing care. Thibodaux determined that Birnbaum's property was at risk, and had to be returned immediately. He asked Burnbaum to send him a warranty deed returning the property, which he got notarized at the nursing home by a staff volunteer, Lisa Girot.
A year later, when Thibodeaux's health had substantially deteriorated and he was of questionable competency, this same volunteer returned to Thibodeaux with a last will and testament she had prepared. Girot also brought a friend with her, another notary, to witness the signature of a man who, by all accounts, lacked the ability to understand what he was signing. Girot's document left everything to herself -- including Birnbaum's Van Zandt property, oil and gas leases, and land in Harris County valued at over a million dollars.
When Thibodeaux died in 2020, Girot filed a proceeding to probate the will in Jefferson Davis Parish, Jennings, Louisiana. Other than the initial filing, she didn't do anything to complete the process. She didn't get the court to appoint her as executor, file an inventory list, give the required notice to claimants, or obtain a judgment of possession allowing her to sell the assets of the estate.
Instead, Lisa Girot took advantage of Texas officials not being familiar with the probate laws of another state. She got a certified copy of the will and order accepting it for filing in Louisiana, and recorded these documents in Van Zandt County real property records. She notified officials these documents gave her ownership of the property, and and asked to pay taxes. The Van Zandt County Appraisal District happily accepted Girot's money and changed their records to make her the new owner of the property.
Lisa Girot then sold Louis Thibodeaux's property in Harris County for over a million dollars. She also sold one tract of the property in Van Zandt County (149 acres) for approximately half a million.
The purchaser was Robert Dow, a well-known land flipped who buys low and sells high. Robert Dow currently has a pending contract to resell the property to a buyer willing to pay $1,749,000.
In a lawsuit filed in Van Zandt County, Robert Dow obtained from Judge Martin a summary judgment without a trial or hearing. It declared Dow was a bona fide purchaser of the property and thus owned it. However, in obtaining this judgment, Dow and his lawyers intentionally concealed from the judge evidence that the Louisiana probate case was not yet finalized, which meant Lisa Girot did not have any title to convey to Dow.
Robert Dow has not yet been able to deliver clear title to his buyer because of a new deed. Birnbaum, refusing to accept that Dow manipulated the legal system to steal his farm, signed a transfer upon death deed donating his farm to God's Property Ministries for future use as a Mennonite Colony.
Barney Donalson, a Mennonite Minister and owner of God's Property Ministries, later recorded an affidavit in the real property records of Van Zandt County giving lis pendens notice to any would-be buyers that Lisa Girot committed fraud, and that she cannot legally convey title while the Louisiana probate of Louis Thibodeaux's will remains pending.
Robert Dow is now extremely upset that he cannot close on his $1.7 million dollar real estate deal. He has repeated mailed Birnbaum and Donalson letters threatening to criminally prosecute them for their filings.
Robert Dow has also contacted the Texas Ranger, the Van Zandt Sheriff, and has reportedly put pressure of Van Zandt District Attorney Tonda Curry to prosecute Birnbaum and Donalson.
On December 3, 2025, DA Tonda Curry notified a mutual contact that she was under pressure to issue an arrest warrant for Birnbaum and Donalson, and wanted an informal meeting with Donalson to discuss this matter over coffee. Donalson answered that because this matter involved a donation to the Mennonite Church, the church's attorney would have to be involved.
Curry, realizing that the church was represented by counsel, then followed appropriate laws to stop communicating directly with represented parties.
