Jackson Exec Sentenced for Bank Fraud

On Friday, September 3, 2010, EARLINE RAWLS, age 37, alleged president of Heavenly Homes LLC, Jackson, Mississippi, was sentenced in the United States District Court, Southern District of Mississippi, by District Court Judge Daniel P. Jordan. RAWLS was sentenced to 35 months in prison, five years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $433,907.76. On June 9, 2010, RAWLS was convicted of three counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy. As part of her scheme, RAWLS provided false information to lenders with the intention of inducing reliance on such information in connection with loan approvals.

Michael Guest, Madison/Rankin County District Attorney, praised the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and other federal agencies investigating the case. Guest said, “Without aggressive federal investigators working on this case and others, EARLINE RAWLS may have escaped justice. The District Attorney’s Office was honored to assist the United States Attorney’s Office in this federal investigation.”

Daniel McMullen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Mississippi, stated that the collaborative efforts of the FBI, United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi and other federal and local agencies resulted in the successful prosecution of RAWLS, who defrauded the mortgage industry.