(USAO, OH) A former Youngstown man was sentenced to more than three years in prison for crimes related to the purchase of a dozen homes in Mahoning County, said Carole S. Rendon, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, and Steven D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Cleveland office. R. Allen Sinclair, 52, of Suwanee, Georgia, was sentenced to 41 months in prison and ordered to pay approximately $830,000 in…

CHICAGO – July 11, 2016 – (RealEstateRama) — The Chicago Housing Authority will receive restitution for money stolen by a former contractor and her husband after the pair pleaded guilty to stealing funds intended for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, a crime that was exposed following an investigation by the CHA’s Office of the Inspector General. Former contractor Charlene Potts and her husband Scott Washington pleaded guilty in Cook…

A New York parole board freed Kwame Abdul-Haqq in 2004 after he served time for attempted murder, robbery, burglary and kidnapping. Just three years later, Abdul-Haqq was hired by the state of Indiana — as a prison guard. The 52-year-old Anderson man was charged Wednesday in a federal indictment with defrauding the state of Indiana out of the $175,000 he was paid when he worked as an officer at the Pendleton Correctional Facility, a maximum…

Indianapolis – United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler announced today the indictment of an Anderson man on six counts of wire fraud, two counts of making false statements on a loan or credit application, and one count of making false declarations before the court. Kwame Abdul-Haqq, 52, Anderson, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Indianapolis. Robert Borum has a lengthy criminal history in New York, including convictions for attempted…

(Source: USAO, MD) Baltimore, Maryland – Real estate agent Christopher A. Kwegan, age 59, of Randallstown, Maryland pleaded guilty today to charges arising from the fraudulent purchase of a Baltimore City property using fraudulent loan documentation and a straw purchaser. The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Kevin Perkins of the Federal Bureau of…

(Source: phillyvoice.com) Two Chester men pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a multi-year conspiracy that involved filing false deeds on Delaware County homes and false tax forms against judges, law enforcement and other government employees in an effort to intimidate them, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced. Steven Hameed, 57, and Darnell Young, 48, both of Chester, pleaded guilty to all charges spelled out in an indictment detailing their…

(USAO, WA) A SeaTac man who used a second identity to defraud federal and state public assistance programs for more than 20 years was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 30 months in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes.  TRAVIS EDWARD FISCHER, 49, lived with his girlfriend and three children in SeaTac, while also claiming benefits under the name Edward Travis Fischer in Seattle.  By pretending to be two…

(USAO, IN) HAMMOND- United States Attorney David A. Capp announced that a federal grand jury in Hammond returned an indictment charging three individuals for their part in a house flipping scheme involving Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) properties. The indictment charges Sergio Garcia, Sr.,46, of Chicago, IL and Sergio Garcia, Jr., 27, of Lowell, IN with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and ten substantive counts of mail fraud…

(Post-Tribune News) A Lowell man and two Illinois men were indicted by a federal grand jury for a HUD house flipping scheme in several communities across Northwest Indiana and the southwest suburbs of Chicago. Sergio Garcia Sr., 46, of Chicago, and Sergio Garcia Jr., 27, of Lowell, each face one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and 10 counts of mail fraud. Lansing, Ill., resident Timothy D. Greene, 29, faces one count of submitting…

(USAO, CT) Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that VICTOR CUEVAS, 52, of Bristol, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to conspiring with others to commit bank fraud in connection with his home mortgage loan applications. According to court documents and statements made in court, in the summer of 2013, CUEVAS, a City of…

Earlier today, David Gotterup pleaded guilty at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, to conspiracy to commit wire fraud by defrauding distressed homeowners in a loan modification scheme.  When sentenced, Gotterup faces up to 30 years in prison, as well as restitution, criminal forfeiture, and a fine. The guilty plea was announced by Robert L. Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Diego Rodriguez,…

(Source: USAO, OH) COLUMBUS, Ohio – A federal grand jury has charged Robert Porter, 52, of Westerville, Ohio with five counts of willfully filing a false income tax return with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and one count of making a false statement. Benjamin C. Glassman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Kathy A. Enstrom, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Criminal Investigation,…

(USAO, PA) PITTSBURGH – An Allegheny County resident has been sentenced in federal court to 18 months imprisonment followed by three years supervised release and ordered to pay $249,664.80 in restitution on her conviction of issuing forged checks, theft of government money and access device fraud, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today. United States District Judge Gustave Diamond imposed the sentence on Deborah A. Mattie, 48,…

(Source: Tube City Almanac) A Glassport woman will serve 18 months in prison and pay restitution of nearly $250,000 after pleading guilty to defrauding her employer and the government. Deborah A. Mattie, 48, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond, U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton said. Mattie is a former office manager for Finney Funeral Homes, court officials said. In January, she pleaded guilty to felony counts of forging checks,…

(USAO, NJ) TRENTON, N.J. – A West New York, New Jersey, man who fraudulently obtained a federally insured mortgage for a West New York rental property today admitted intentionally failing to make loan payments while using $149,000 in rental income from the property for personal expenses, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. Ruben Vargas, 65, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson to an information charging him with one…

(Source: USAO, MA) BOSTON – A former Amherst man was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court in Springfield for failing to register as a sex offender, his fifth conviction for violating his registration obligations. Jose Dones, 40, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to 30 months in prison and seven years of supervised release.  In January 2016, Dones pleaded guilty to one count of failing to register as a sex…

(Source: USAO, MD) Baltimore, Maryland – Michael Gerard Camphor, age 60, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty today to charges arising from the fraudulent purchase of four properties in Baltimore, using fraudulent loan documentation and straw purchasers, resulting in losses of over $736,000. The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Kevin Perkins of the Federal…

(Source: USAO, MA) Disctrict of Two former employees of Roxse Homes, a subsidized housing development in Boston, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Boston in connection with a scheme to rent apartments at the housing development to individuals who were not qualified in exchange for cash bribes. Mathis Lemons, 42, of Brockton, pleaded guilty today and Ismael Morales, 36, of Jamaica Plain, pleaded guilty on Monday, May 2, 2016 to one count…

(Source: USAO, CT) Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JOHN VESCERA, 60, of Dana Point, Calif., waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty today before Chief U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven to false advertising and misusing a government seal in connection with the provision of mortgage modification services. According to court documents and statements made in court,…

(Source: syracuse.com) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A mortgage bank company owned by the chairman of the Onondaga County Legislature and a former Syracuse city auditor was a victim in a mortgage fraud scheme that stole up to $5 million, according to a federal grand jury indictment. Four New York City people were indicted this week in Buffalo on charges of using falsified documents to obtain inflated mortgages on eight homes in the Bronx from June 2008 to…