Ex-Gary city official sentenced to 15 months in mortgage scam
Post-Tribune (IN)
April 20, 2012
April 20, 2012
The former director of community development for the city of Gary will spend 15 months in prison in addition to paying restitution of almost $88,000, a federal judge ruled Thursday afternoon.
Jacquelyn Drago - Hunter ’s attorney, Kevin Milner, argued strongly that she receive probation in connection with the one count of wire fraud to which she pleaded guilty. Drago - Hunter , 61, of Merrillville, has several health issues including cancer, Milner said, and is taking care of her 99-year-old mother.
“Your honor, not all people are the same,” Milner said during the sentencing hearing at the U.S. District Court in Hammond. “Not all crimes are the same.”
He argued that the judge shouldn’t sentence Drago - Hunter as he would someone in their 20s, arguing she likely won’t live to the average life span of most women because of her health.
“We do not need the extra pound of flesh,” Milner said.
However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Bell argued that Drago - Hunter ’s crimes were serious, partly because she abused her position of trust as a title agent.
Drago - Hunter was charged in 2010 with working with three other defendants — including Gary businessman Jerry Haymon — to run a mortgage fraud scheme in which they forged sellers’ signatures on closing documents in order to sell houses for tens of thousands more than the seller was actually asking. They would then use liens Haymon filed for work he never actually did on the houses to collect the difference.
Bell said prosecutors could have proven Drago - Hunter at least knew the sellers’ signatures were forged, if not forging them herself. He argued that although Haymon was the main player in the crime, Drago - Hunter was crucial to pulling it off.
“The fraud does not occur without her,” Bell said, adding she kept lenders in the dark.
U.S. District Judge Rudy Lozano said he made an earnest attempt to see if there were any “reasonable” claims that could allow him to take more time off of Drago - Hunter ’s sentencing. However, he said he could find none and pointed out that Drago - Hunter had already benefited from the plea agreement. She was looking at another two years at least on top of any other sentence if another charge against her, aggravated identity theft, had not been dropped.
The sentence Lozano ordered was at the bottom of the recommended federal sentencing guidelines, which prosecutors agreed to support as part of the plea agreement. Lozano also ordered Drago - Hunter to pay, along with her co-defendants who have all pleaded or been found guilty, $87,942 in restitution.
No comments:
Post a Comment