Connecticut Man Pleads Guilty to Mortgage Fraud on North Myrtle Beach Property

COLUMBIA, SC—U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles announced today that Robert Daniel Kelly, 48, of Branford, Connecticut, pled guilty before United States Magistrate Judge Holly B. Fitzsimmons in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to two counts of filing a false loan application in connection with a mortgage on property in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Kelly applied for and received several loans for the purchase and refinance of homes in the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina. In pleading guilty to two counts of filing a false loan application, Kelly admitted that, in September 2007, he applied for and received mortgage loans from Bank of America on two properties located on Havens Drive in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. These applications contained misstatements, including that Kelly’s income exceeded $83,000 a month when, in fact, his income was a fraction of that amount. Bank of America subsequently foreclosed on both properties and suffered losses of several hundred thousand dollars.

Kelly is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall on December 19, 2011, at which time Kelly faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years and a fine of up to $1 million. Kelly also faces an order of restitution in the amount of at least $959,002.03.

Kelly was originally investigated in and indicted on January 25, 2011 by a federal grand jury in the District of South Carolina. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Carolina transferred the indictment to the District of Connecticut for entry of a guilty plea

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys John Potterfield and David T. Huang.