MOBILE, Alabama – A man who worked as a loan officer at a local mortgage company pleaded guilty today to providing phony documents to a lender to get a house loan approved for a client.

Anthony Melvin Wilkes became the second Midtown Mortgage Co. employee to plead guilty to making a false statement on a loan application, and the third to be charged. Federal prosecutors bypassed a grand jury and negotiated the plea deal with defense attorney Arthur Madden.

The plea deal offers Wilkes the promise of a prosecution recommendation for leniency in exchange for his cooperation in the ongoing investigation.