Mortgage Fraud Ring Faces Years in Prison, $1.2 Million in Restitution

Myron L. Hooker, Jr., 43, of Detroit, Peter Garland, 40, formerly of Southfield, Nicole Jackson, 38, formerly of Detroit and Antwan Mcrea, 35 of Detroit, were sentenced yesterday for obtaining fraudulent mortgage loans on numerous properties and splitting illegal proceeds in varying proportions among themselves announced United States Attorney Terrence Berg.

Berg was joined in the announcement by Andrew G. Arena, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. United States Attorney Terrence Berg said, “We’re catching up with a lot of these mortgage fraudsters, and now they are starting to see the price to be paid for turning mortgage lending into a criminal enterprise. Mortgage fraud poses a significant threat to our economy. In prosecuting mortgage fraud we demonstrate the United States Attorney’s office and the FBI’s commitment and determination in holding perpetrators accountable for these crimes.”

Myron Hooker, the lead defendant in the case, was sentenced by the Honorable Julian Abele Cook, United States District Judge, to serve 63 months in federal prison on wire fraud charges, and 40 months for conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, the terms to be served concurrently.

The remaining defendants were convicted of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and received the following sentences:

• Peter Garland, was sentenced to serve 27 months in federal prison;
• Antwan Mcrea, was sentenced to serve 24 months in federal prison;
• Nicole Jackson, was sentenced to serve one day in federal prison, to be followed by three years supervised release and five months home confinement

In addition to their custodial sentences, Hooker, Garland, Jackson and Mcrea were ordered to pay, in various amounts, more than $1.2 million in restitution, $100 in special assessments per count of conviction and must serve two or three years of supervised release upon the completion of their custodial terms.

Information presented to the Court at the time of their pleas showed that Hooker conspired and agreed with the other defendants, to defraud and obtain money and funds from lending institutions, banks and individuals by obtaining fraudulent mortgage loans. Hooker orchestrated the fraud by coordinating and directing the activities of loan officers, straw buyers, collusive sellers, real estate appraisers, and closing agents, some of whom are also charged in the indictment. For instance, Hooker obtained falsely inflated appraisals on real estate and paid straw buyers to act as purchasers of the property. To bolster the straw buyer’s credit-worthiness, false income and asset documentation was provided by Hooker. Relying on the falsely inflated appraisals and fraudulent documentation, lending institutions approved and disbursed loans. These loans often subsequently went into default leaving the lending institutions with insufficient collateral and substantial losses, well in excess of $1,000,000.

U.S. Attorney Berg thanked the FBI for the successful investigation of the case.