A community that borders Arkansas and Missouri is one of the nation’s worst hot spots.

Civil, Criminal Mortgage Fraud Cases Concluded
A Redding, Calif., man has been sentenced in federal court in Sacramento, and a San Diego County loan processing firm has agreed to a civil settlement in separate mortgage fraud cases.

U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb today sentenced Brandon Hanly, 33, of Redding to four years in prison, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.

From September 2005 to April 2006, Hanly and others participated in a scheme to defraud lenders, according to evidence presented at Hanly’s trial. To obtain loans and cash above the true value of a house, they provided the lender with inflated appraisals and title reports with fake liens in the name of a shell company, TPG Investments Inc. The defendants then gave the lender and escrow officer instructions to pay off the lien to TPG.

Realtor Cops Plea in Big CA Mortgage Fraud Case
Michael Angelo Munoz, a former real estate agent and defendant in Bakersfield’s Crisp & Cole mortgage fraud case, has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of mail fraud, the U.S. Attorneys Office announced Tuesday.

While Munoz’s plea remains tentative until it is accepted by a federal judge, and no date for such action has been set, the agreement makes him the 11th person to accept a plea bargain in the case.

Munoz has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail, wire and bank fraud, five counts of mail fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to launder money.

Family’s Pleas Fail to Prevent Prison for Mom in Mortgage Fraud Case
Pleas by two sons, a daughter and a father didn’t stop a federal judge yesterday from ordering Deborah L. Kistner to prison for a $9 million mortgage fraud that stretched from Ohio to Florida.

“My mother is the binding that holds us together,” said Alex Kistner, 25, her older son, as he begged U.S. District Judge Gregory L. Frost to give his mother probation. He described her as honest and said she’s his “moral compass.”

But Frost said Kistner’s crime deserved time, and he sentenced her to 5 1/2 years in prison.

Appraiser Gets 1.5 Yrs in $100 Mil Mortgage Fraud Case
A Jefferson Hills, Pa., woman told a federal judge on Thursday that her insecurities led her to help her brother commit a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud and lie about threats to her husband, a federal drug enforcement agent.

“I needed to feel acceptance,” Kimberly Baldwin told U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti.

Baldwin, 46, pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the government and asked for an immediate sentence on that charge and her prior guilty plea to wire fraud.