Memorial Drive condo complex
‘gutted’ by mortgage fraud
by Andy Phelan
andy@dekalbchamp.com
Blue Sky
condominiums |
Seven area residents were arrested and charged June 18 in an alleged mortgage fraud scheme in a condominium complex on Memorial Drive in south DeKalb that could net each 30 years in federal prison, said U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias.
Of the seven charged, two were from DeKalb – Lovie Hobbs a/k/a Lovie Hobbs Hagwood, 47, of Lithonia, and Marcus Vickers, 35, of Ellenwood.
Others allegedly involved in the scheme to defraud banks were Dossey Richards, 36; Montra McKenzie, 29; Cyrus Davis, 42; Michelle Davila, 35, all of Atlanta, and Rayshuan Harmon, 27, of East Point.
According to Nahmias and the information he presented in court, the seven allegedly inflated the value of units at Blue Sky, a condominium complex at 3106 Memorial Drive, which is a few blocks east of Candler Road.
The complaint indicates that the units normally sell for between $12,000 and $28,750, but the seven allegedly inflated the prices and obtained loans between $135,000 and $155,000.
All seven represent part of a chain needed to pull off the scheme, said Nahmias. Richards owned an investment company, Vickers is a closing attorney, McKenzie and Davis are mortgage brokers, Davila worked for Wachovia Bank, Harmon provided fraudulent appraisals and Hobbs, the “straw buyer,” works for the Internal Revenue Service in Atlanta, he said.
“This is unfortunately another in a long series of major mortgage fraud cases in metro Atlanta,” said Nahmias. “In this case, an entire condominium complex was gutted by fraud and greed. And as we have seen too many times before, one of the defendants charged is a closing attorney, someone the victim lenders retained and trusted to protect them against such fraud, but who instead became a participant in it.”
Special agents of the FBI are investigating the case.
“The defendants were reportedly marketing a storage room with no electricity or running water to sell for $120,000,” said Nahmias spokesman Patrick Crosby.
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