A New Jersey mortgage loan officer, apparently short on loan closings, resorted to stealing from his employer.
Why, prosecutors want to know, did Stacy D. Jackson allegedly steal nearly $6,000 from American Federal Mortgage Corp. after working at the Flanders, N.J., mortgage lender for five years?
“I don’t what the motivation may have been,” Peter Foy, a Morris County assistant prosecutor, told MortgageDaily.com. “That’s what we’re looking into now.”
Jackson, 30, has been indicted and charged with theft, forgery and theft by failure to make required disposition of property received, Foy confirmed. The indictment was handed down by a Morris County grand jury earlier this month.
Jackson, who lives in Budd Lake, N.J., was originally charged by Mount Olive police in February, Foy said. He is accused of stealing $5,850 from the company over a nearly three-week period in late December.
The company, nor Jackson’s lawyer, could be reached to comment.
According to Foy, Jackson is accused of taking customers money and depositing it into his own bank accounts between Dec. 13 and Dec. 30. He ran the alleged scheme by forging the name of American Federal Mortgage’s president on the backs of checks, cashing the checks and putting the money into his accounts.
The company first alerted police about the alleged thefts, Foy said.
Jackson, the father of a young child who lives with his mother in an apartment, is not being held. His court date has not been set.
Foy said if convicted Jackson faces up to five years in prison.
On its Web site, American Federal Mortgage Corp. bills says it has been in business for 18 years and touts itself as “the lender with the lowest rates in the nation.”
“The secret to our success is simple,” the company said. “We are a direct lender doing a high volume of only mortgage loans. We deal directly with the consumer. All processing is done out of one central location.”
The company is seeking management trainees and loan originators, according to the Web site.
