Ex-loan officer gets prison term in mortgage fraud
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
DAYTON — A former mortgage loan officer for three companies in the Dayton area was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $171,211 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme.
Timothy Pearson, 37, of Beavercreek, had pleaded guilty in 2007 to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of income tax evasion. He was sentenced Tuesday, Dec. 30, in U.S. District Court.
Federal authorities said Pearson either directly or indirectly participated in at least 365 fraudulent real-estate closings in the Dayton area as part of a mortgage fraud conspiracy between March 2001 and December 2005. He prepared and submitted fraudulent mortgage loan applications in behalf of prospective purchasers of residential properties, mostly located in the Dayton area, and fraudulently provided down payments for the purchasers at real estate closings, U.S. Attorney Gregory Lockhart said.
Pearson fraudulently collected $919,000 in gross receipts as part of the conspiracy, according to federal investigators. Eight co-conspirators identified in court documents, along with various unidentified co-conspirators, fraudulently obtained $13.3 million through the scam for their personal use, federal investigators said.
Pearson was also convicted of two counts of income tax evasion related to his 2001 and 2002 personal federal income tax returns, Lockhart said.
Federal authorities said Pearson had been employed as a loan officer at City Fed Mortgage Co., at 3884 Indian Ripple Road, Beavercreek; Tri County Mortgage, also at 3884 Indian Ripple Road, and Montgomery Mortgage, at 539 Windsor Park Drive, Centerville.
The IRS, FBI and Montgomery County mortgage fraud task force handled the investigation.
