(Source: USAO, MD) Greenbelt, Maryland – A federal grand jury returned an indictment late yesterday against Rene de Jesus de Leon, age 47, and his wife, Pedrina Rodriguez Bonilla, age 37, both of Silver Spring, Maryland, and Ana Maritza Gomez, age 43, of Hyattsville, Maryland, on charges arising from a residential mortgage fraud scheme.

The indictment was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Rene Febles of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General (FHFA-OIG); Special Agent in Charge Cary A. Rubenstein of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General (HUD-OIG); Chief Henry P. Stawinski of the Prince George’s County Police Department; Postal Inspector in Charge Maria L. Kelokates of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service -Washington Division; and Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department.

According to the 10-count indictment and court documents, from at least January 2011 to August 2015, the defendants told homeowners who wanted to modify their mortgage loans and prevent foreclosure of their homes that -- for an upfront fee, which was usually between $2,000 and $6,000, subsequent monthly payments and a back-end consulting fee -- the defendants could lower the homeowners’ monthly payments and allow them to pay off their loans more quickly. The defendants told the victims to make monthly payments to the defendants and to companies they controlled, in lieu of to the homeowners’ lenders, as part of a “principal reduction consulting program.”..