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Half of the most notorious couple in mortgage lending has been caught. Federal authorities in Texas have arrested Rebecca Marie Hauck, who along with her accomplice, Matthew Cox, have brazenly worked their way across the south while being pursued for allegedly stealing as much as $4.5 million through a complex mortgage fraud and identity theft scheme. MortgageDaily.com dubbed the pair “Bonnie and Clyde”, the infamous bank Depression-era bank robbers, in an August 2004 story. Court documents from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston show that Hauck was arrested March 21. Details of the arrest were not available. Federal authorities in Texas could not be reached to comment.
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Hauck signed court papers acknowledging that she also faces federal charges in Georgia. In addition, the documents show that Hauck has been assigned a public defender and that she has gone by the name Grace Hudson, an identity that authorities say she stole from an Atlanta woman.
Cox, who has not been apprehended, and Hauck allegedly began their scam in December of 2003 in Atlanta. They also reportedly operated in Florida, South Carolina and other states in the south.
Cox has reportedly even written a novel about the couple’s exploits called The Associates.
A 47-count federal indictment just unsealed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta shows how Cox and Hauck ran their alleged scam, which relied heavily on stolen IDs and fake documents.
The pair devised “a scheme and artifice to defraud real estate owners, title insurers, mortgage insurers, mortgage lenders and other lenders my making and causing to be made materially false and fraudulent representations, pretenses and promises,” according to the 63-page indictment.
Cox and Hauck would use stolen identities to apply for mortgage loans, sometimes taking several loans on the same property by using multiple stolen IDs. The pair also set up a series of shell companies to further the fraud, according to the indictment.
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Federal prosecutors say the couple used stolen cell phone numbers, mail drops at UPS stores, “virtual offices” that made it appear like they were running a legitimate business, fake drivers licenses and birth certificates secured with stolen identities and other methods to hide their identities and keep the fraud going. As part of the fraud, Cox and Hauck also used stolen identities to secure vehicle loans across the south and open bank accounts with at least seven banks, including Bank of America and Wachovia Bank. The pair is accused of “knowingly submitting … materially false qualifying information and documentation and other fraudulent representations to obtain mortgage loans and credit cards from banks,” according to the indictment. |
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