Flipping Frenzy.com is your source for news, information, and commentary on Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud. 
If you believe you have been a victim of real estate or mortgage fraud, start here! Select your state from the pulldown menu below:
Ten More Sentenced in Oklahoma Mortgage Fraud Case
Following up on a story first reported by Flipping Frenzy in December of last year, 10 people were sentenced late last week for offenses stemming from a mortgage fraud scheme involving high profile RE/MAX affiliated Realtor Theresa Ann Campbell. According to Oklahoma’s The Journal Record, in April of this year, a federal jury convicted six of the 10 for participating in a plan involving doctored loan applications and the artificial inflation of sale prices for nine Edmond, OK, homes. Five others pleaded guilty in December, including the 66-year-old Campbell, who in June was sentenced to two months in prison followed by two years of supervised release and was ordered to pay restitution of $52,490.
Those sentenced last week include:
- Brandon Baum, 32, Joplin, MO — 7 years, 3 months in federal prison
- Gayle Caldwell, 39, Edmond, OK — 1 year, 6 months in federal prison
- Charles Caldwell Jr., 41, Edmond, OK — 1 year, 6 months in federal prison + $185,740 in restitution
- Rusty Therrien, 33, Edmond, OK — 1 year, 6 months in federal prison + $82,710 in restitution.
- Anthony Jew, 38, Edmond, OK — 1 year in federal prison + 104 hours of community service and $13,700 in restitution
- Joseph Therrien, 29, Oklahoma City, OK — 1 year in federal prison + $59,771 in restitution
- Teresa Therrien, 32, Edmond, OK — 1 month in federal prison + 90 days home detention and $82,710 in restitution
- Dalton Alford, 35, Oklahoma City, OK — 8 months in federal prison + 104 hours of community service and $172,489 in restitution
- Tony Mykel, 40, Edmond, OK — 6 months in federal prison + 104 hours of community service and $263,489 restitution
- Timothy J. McDaniel, 45, Edmond, OK — 6 months in federal prison + $57,641 restitution
According to The Edmond Sun, Baum was a real estate agent who acted as the buyers’ agent in the purchases of properties in the Oak Tree subdivision of north Edmond. Baum’s buyers were told they could receive cash back at closing under the guise of “repair costs,” which they could use for their personal benefit, if they agreed to purchase the Oak Tree homes at an inflated price.
Filed under: Cash Back at Closing, Mortgage Fraud, Oklahoma, Real Estate Fraud
A Ralph Roberts Site, Copyright 2005-2008 |
ok…who was the lawyer that handled this fraud? This is exactly what was done to me personally on a much smaller scale with just my home..but still the inflated income and appraisal etc…
I’m still needing an attorney to help me get restitution and save my home!
read my info under : Ralph’s ’swimming with the sharks ‘ below:
thanks
Lisa Ashton
Comment by lisa ashton — October 16, 2007 @ 10:13 pm
How in the world did they get off so easy? They give the Real Estate & the Mortgage lending a bad name. They should have to work to pay off every penny for every fradulant deal they did. Our courts are too easy on crime, and that’s exactly what they did, criminals. All they got was a slap on the hand. This won’t stop them from finding another easy way to get rich quick, maybe something a little more legal, but criminal nonetheless.
We need to remove people like this from society, somehow. They have no morals, no sense of responsibility and they just don’t care about anyone but themselves.
Comment by Ron Southall — October 18, 2007 @ 2:27 pm
Remember - none of these schemes work without the appraiser’s participation. He/she is the key link in any scam involving real estate value inflation. The appraisers, in my opinion, should be the main target, because if only they would have refused to “make the deals work”, none of this would have happened. All they had to do is check listing history in MLS to see that something wasn’t right. The unscrupulous appraiser often claims “ignorance”, or they cop a plea bargain……..pointing finger at the lender and/or realtor for pressuring him/her to “hit the value”. It is really a shame to see the reputation of the appraisal industry decline to its current level. We (appraisers) were once respected by the public as true “Professionals”. In todays declining market, and appraisal fraud beind discovered every day, it is still not difficult to find a “deal maker” to inflate the appraisal.
Comment by Rod Bien, Appraiser — November 12, 2007 @ 7:27 pm