Five arrested for alleged mortgage fraud
ATLANTA (UPI) -- Five people, including a convicted robber and his parole officer, have been arrested in an alleged Atlanta mortgage fraud scheme.
Police said Quentin Chandler, a convicted armed robber who was paroled in September; parole officer Michael Turner; Chandler's real-estate agent girlfriend Takeisha Randolph; federal prison guard Duane Timmons and loan officer Royce Odor were arrested after a five-month investigation into an alleged scheme to illegally profit from a house sale, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Saturday.
Sgt. Terry Joyner said the five allegedly bought a house then fraudulently inflated the property's value and took out a mortgage based on the exaggerated amount. He said the group may have done the same thing with other properties.
"The area is so popular for mortgage fraud because houses can be purchased cheap for $70,000 and passed off for inflated values of $200,000, $300,000 a short time later," Joyner said.
The suspects could be sentenced to a maximum 10 years in prison if convicted.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
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