Mortgage Fraud

An Eastern Shore businessman will pay a $75,000 fine to the state and either repay or waive more than $4 million due from consumers in a settlement agreement that concludes a mortgage-fraud investigation, Maryland regulators said Wednesday. The Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation had earlier issued a cease-and-desist order to Frank J. Ward III of the Salisbury-based Money Centre for acting as an unlicensed lender and making misrepresentations with the intent to defraud borrowers, the agency said.

A federal grand jury in Baltimore indicted a man Tuesday in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme in which he allegedly bilked banks out of $2.5 million, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. Joshua S. Goldberg was charged with three counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The indictment alleges Goldberg and others, through the Baltimore-based Worthington Mortgage Group, falsified applications and appraisals to get mortgages from 2004 to 2008 on at least five properties.

People who are facing some kind of financial distress are often the most vulnerable to fraud. The recent case in Harford County Circuit Court, in which a man was convicted of duping an Edgewood couple out of money he said could be used to reduce their mortgage debt, is a lesson often taught but seldom learned until it is too late, namely that if it sounds too good to be true, it almost assuredly is. In this particular case, the couple lost...

Three Marylanders have been indicted for mortgage fraud related to homes in Baltimore's Reservoir Hill neighborhood, federal prosecutors announced Friday. Kimberly Eileen McMillian, 45, of Baltimore, Olutoyin Oladosu, 53, of Lanham, and Glenroy Emanuel Day, Sr., 73, of Baltimore, were indicted by a grand jury Wednesday on charges of conspiracy to commit and committing wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Maryland said in a statement. McMillian, prosecutors allege, pretended to be a real estate agent representing New York investors interested in buying properties in Baltimore.

A federal grand jury in Baltimore indicted six people in a $4.5 million mortgage scheme that allegedly defrauded banks, home buyers and sellers across the state, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday. The indictment said a group of six people worked in various stages of the mortgage process and set up shell companies to handle the illicit proceeds. One defendant, Gregory Green of Waldorf, was a contract specialist with the U.S. Department of Justice. He no longer works at the agency.

A Severna Park woman was sentenced Tuesday to just over three years in prison after pleading guilty to a mortgage scam involving $4.7 million in fraudulent loans, the Maryland U.S. attorney's office said. Mary Anne Dean, 60, brokered loans in a scheme pitched to homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure, according to her plea agreement. The homeowners were told they could sell to investors, stay on as renters, and then buy back their homes after getting their finances in order. Dean, who ran a mortgage brokerage firm called Sunset Mortgage Co. from her home, submitted falsified mortgage applications to secure the loans for the "investors" — relatives and acquaintances of a co-defendant, Charles Donaldson of Bowie.

A Laurel man pleaded guilty Tuesday in a mortgage fraud case that left a lender with a $428,000 loss, the federal government said. Olu Campbell, 29, formerly known as Oluseun Oshosanya, was once a loan officer and a building contractor and used that background to engineer three fraudulent purchases of Baltimore homes in 2008. In two of the cases, Campbell and an associate applied for mortgages by posing as people they knew, using the people's Social Security numbers without their knowledge along with false documentation, according to the plea agreement.

Con artist Rodney Getlan did not just take people's money - his actions caused them to lose their homes. That he stole the sanctuary of a roof and four walls may have led to Getlan's getting a much longer prison term. Baltimore County Circuit Judge Vicki Ballou-Watts sentenced Getlan to 35 years in prison this week, a sentence on par with punishment for some violent crimes. "Rodney got what he deserved," said Lauri Hartz, who attended the court proceeding as one of nearly 50 known victims of Getlan's scheme to divert mortgage payments to his own accounts.

Three Marylanders have been indicted for mortgage fraud related to homes in Baltimore's Reservoir Hill neighborhood, federal prosecutors announced Friday. Kimberly Eileen McMillian, 45, of Baltimore, Olutoyin Oladosu, 53, of Lanham, and Glenroy Emanuel Day, Sr., 73, of Baltimore, were indicted by a grand jury Wednesday on charges of conspiracy to commit and committing wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Maryland said in a statement. McMillian, prosecutors allege, pretended to be a real estate agent representing New York investors interested in buying properties in Baltimore.

A 29-year-old College Park man was sentenced Monday in federal court to more than five years in prison for defrauding a mortgage company that made loans on six Baltimore properties. Dema Daiga was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Marvin C. Garbis, who ordered Daiga to pay restitution of $664,493 and a special assessment of $1,200. The sentence, which is to be followed by three years of supervised release, also included two counts of aggravated identity theft. According to testimony, Daiga and another mortgage broker, Laurel resident Olu Campbell, also known as Oluseun Oshosanya, 30, recruited "straw" purchasers and used names of four others, without their knowledge, to apply for mortgages on six properties.

An Owings Mills man was sentenced Monday to 35 years in prison for defrauding homeowners who sought his help with coordinating mortgage loan modifications, the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said in a statement. Rodney Getlan, 45, pleaded guilty in September to nine counts of mortgage fraud. The state accused Getlan of promising homeowners that he would help them get loan modifications. Then, using fake documents, he was able to steal the monthly payments that the homeowners thought were going to their lenders, DLLR said.

Con artist Rodney Getlan did not just take people's money - his actions caused them to lose their homes. That he stole the sanctuary of a roof and four walls may have led to Getlan's getting a much longer prison term. Baltimore County Circuit Judge Vicki Ballou-Watts sentenced Getlan to 35 years in prison this week, a sentence on par with punishment for some violent crimes. "Rodney got what he deserved," said Lauri Hartz, who attended the court proceeding as one of nearly 50 known victims of Getlan's scheme to divert mortgage payments to his own accounts.

Federal prosecutors across the country have charged more than 500 people with crimes related to mortgage fraud as part of a year-long program that ended last month, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced Tuesday. The Distressed Homeowner Initiative was the “first-ever nationwide effort to target fraud schemes that prey upon suffering homeowners,” according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice. The initiative was in operation from Oct. 1, 2011 until Sept. 30, the department said.

A Baltimore man pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud because he and others secured mortgages for six homes in Upper Fells Point with fraudulent information, prosecutors announced. Kenneth Koehler, 42, and his co-conspirators caused losses of more than $1 million to mortgage lenders because all six homes they purchased subsequently went into foreclosure, according to a statement from the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office. Four of the homes were on South Chapel Street, one home was in the 200 block of South Castle Street and another was in the 2200 block of Gough Street, according to Koehler's plea agreement.

An Owings Mills man has pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud after prosecutors alleged he took money from at least 48 homeowners to help them get loan modifications, then stole the monthly payments they thought were going to their lenders, the state said Thursday. Rodney Getlan, 45, could be sentenced to as many as 90 years in prison. The state is seeking a 40-year sentence with 10 years suspended, along with restitution of about $400,000 to the victims, the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said.

A Severna Park woman was sentenced Tuesday to just over three years in prison after pleading guilty to a mortgage scam involving $4.7 million in fraudulent loans, the Maryland U.S. attorney's office said. Mary Anne Dean, 60, brokered loans in a scheme pitched to homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure, according to her plea agreement. The homeowners were told they could sell to investors, stay on as renters, and then buy back their homes after getting their finances in order. Dean, who ran a mortgage brokerage firm called Sunset Mortgage Co. from her home, submitted falsified mortgage applications to secure the loans for the "investors" — relatives and acquaintances of a co-defendant, Charles Donaldson of Bowie.

An Owings Mills man was sentenced Monday to 35 years in prison for defrauding homeowners who sought his help with coordinating mortgage loan modifications, the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said in a statement. Rodney Getlan, 45, pleaded guilty in September to nine counts of mortgage fraud. The state accused Getlan of promising homeowners that he would help them get loan modifications. Then, using fake documents, he was able to steal the monthly payments that the homeowners thought were going to their lenders, DLLR said.

An Owings Mills man has been arrested on charges of forging loan modification documents that led five homes into foreclosure proceedings, state licensing officials said. Rodney Getlan, 45, has been charged by the Baltimore County State's Attorney with felony theft, operating without a license, mortgage fraud and other counts, according to a statement Friday from the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. For three years, from Jan. 2009 through Jan. 2012, Getlan forged documents that showed his victims had been approved for loan modifications by their mortgage lenders, according to the licensing department.