Augusta Man Pleads Guilty in Mortgage Fraud Scheme
| U.S. Attorney’s Office May 14, 2009 |
AUGUSTA, GA—Edmund A. Booth, Jr., United States Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, announced today that Walter Edward Stuckey, Jr, age 52, of Martinez, Georgia, pled guilty to one count of mail fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1341, in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme.
Booth said that during the guilty plea hearing in U.S. District Court before U.S. District Judge J. Randal Hall, the evidence showed that between 2002 and continuing until 2006, Stuckey devised a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders by providing false representations and omissions on mortgage applications through the operation of a mortgage brokerage company known as All-Star Lending in Augusta, which was managed by Stuckey. Booth noted that the evidence at the hearing also showed that nine of the homes involved in Stuckey’s scheme have gone into foreclosure.
Booth stated the offense of mail fraud carries a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years and a $250,000 fine. After completion of a pre-sentence investigation and report, a sentencing date will be scheduled. Booth stated, “The Department of Justice has made it a top priority to pursue and prosecute mortgage fraud and we are vigilantly doing that in the Southern District of Georgia.”
The case was the result of a lengthy investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Booth commended the agents and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carlton Bourne and David Stewart who represented the government.