Jerry Eugene Parker, 61, Hoover, Alabama, the owner of a Birmingham property title company, was sentenced by a federal judge to 12 months and a day in prison for mail fraud in connection to a mortgage fraud scheme in which property ownership records were falsified in order to obtain mortgage loans.
U.S. District Judge Inge P. Johnson sentenced Parker, owner of Central Alabama Title, on two mail fraud counts and ordered him to pay $12,150 in restitution to International Mortgage Corporation and Taylor, Bean & Whitaker. Parker pleaded guilty in June 2010 to the fraud charges that arose from his involvement in a larger mortgage fraud scheme.
As a result of this case, successful prosecutions were brought against Rockett and Scott Eric Perry. Both of these individuals conducted fraudulent mortgage transactions while utilizing Perry‘s title company. In both Rockett‘s and Perry‘s mortgage fraud schemes, fraudulent documents were submitted through Parker‘s title company to lending institutions.
As a result, of these investigations, more than $2 million in fraud losses have been successfully prosecuted. Rockett pleaded guilty and was sentenced in 2010. Perry recently pleaded guilty to four counts of making false statements on HUD-1 Settlement Statements and is set to be sentenced on May 17, 2012.
U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, FBI Special Agent In Charge Patrick J. Maley, and Housing and Urban Development Inspector General David Montoya announced the sentence.
“Title companies are in a position to stop fraud. They are supposed to protect lenders and property owners by making sure that the person seeking a loan on a property is the rightful owner,” Vance said. “Parker not only allowed fraud to go unchecked, he assisted in carrying it out. He violated the core of his position of trust,” she said. “Financial fraud is a priority of this Justice Department. It will be prosecuted.”
This prosecution is part of President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency task force to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.
