Mortgage fraud scheme nets Ga. man prison term

Staff report

CLEVELAND

A Georgia man has been sentenced to five years and nine months in federal prison in a major Mahoning Valley mortgage-fraud scheme that operated between 2003 and 2006.

Romero Minor, 52, of Macon, Ga., drew the sentence this week from U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Gaughan.

Minor had earlier pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the scheme, which involved $7.5 million in loans and 48 properties in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

Minor conspired with three loan officers to prepare and submit fraudulent mortgage-loan applications to mortgage lenders and had the properties appraised and financed at values far beyond their worth, the U.S. Attorney said.

Once the lenders approved and funded the loans based on the fraudulent applications, Minor got thousands of dollars at closing from the mortgage proceeds with the assistance of two title agents, according to court documents.

The seven victim companies that funded the mortgage loans suffered losses exceeding $2 million in the scheme, the U.S. attorney said.

The case was investigated by the Youngstown Mortgage Fraud Task Force, which consists of the FBI’s Youngstown office, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Ohio Department of Commerce, Attorney General’s Office and Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office.