Smyrna Realtor Pleads Guilty To Multi-Year Mortgage Fraud Scheme

SMYRNA, GA — Eleven people pleaded guilty in federal court to a multi-year mortgage fraud scheme, including a Smyrna real estate agent.

Listing agents Eric Hill, 50, of Tyrone, and Robert Kelske, 52, of Smyrna, represented a major nationwide homebuilder and helped more than 100 homebuyers purchase homes who were not qualified to obtain a mortgage, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The metro Atlanta fraud scheme spanned more than four years, and resulted in the approval of more than 100 mortgages based on falsified documents and information. Many of these loans are insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), resulting in claims being paid for mortgages that have defaulted.

“These defendants brazenly manipulated the real estate lending process by using their knowledge of the system,” Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt Erskine said. “Mortgage fraudsters threaten the soundness of the real estate market in our community and divert critical resources away from those borrowers who properly qualify for loans. Rooting out bad actors who attempt to abuse the system for their own personal gain makes the mortgage lending system safer and fairer for everyone.”

Hill and Kelske told the homebuyers what type of assets they needed to claim to have in the bank so they could qualify for a mortgage, and what type of employment and income they needed to submit in their mortgage applications.

Prosecutors said the agents then coordinated with multiple document fabricators — including Fawziyyah Connor and Stephanie Hogan, two other defendants in the case — who altered the homebuyers' bank statements, inflating their assets and creating bank entries with false direct deposits from an employer selected by the real estate agent.

Additionally, Connor and Hogan also generated fake earnings statements that matched the direct deposit entries to make it look like the homebuyer was employed and earning income from a fake employer.

Other participants in the scheme acted as employment verifiers and responded to phone calls or emails from lenders to falsely verify the homebuyers' employment, prosecutors said. These defendants include Jerod Little, Renee Little, Maurice Lawson, Todd Taylor, Paige McDaniel and Donald Fontenot.

In another aspect of the scheme, real estate agent Anthony Richard falsely claimed to represent homebuyers as their selling agent to receive commissions from the home sales. However, Richard had never even met the homebuyers he said he represented, according to prosecutors.

To avoid detection, Richard often notified closing attorneys that he would be unable to attend the closing and sent wire instructions for the receipt of his commissions, prosecutors said. When Richard received these commissions, he gave back a majority of the money to Hill or Kelske for including him in the deal, and kept a smaller share for his participation.

The following defendants pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States, according to the DOJ:

• Eric Hill, 50, of Tyrone
• Robert Kelske, 52, of Smyrna
• Fawziyyah Connor, 41, of Tyrone
• Stephanie Hogan, 57, of Norcross
• Jerod Little, 42, of McDonough
• Renee Little, 33, of McDonough
• Maurice Lawson, 36, of Powder Springs
• Todd Taylor, 54, of Fairburn
• Paige McDaniel, 49, of Stockbridge
• Donald Fontenot, 52, of Locust Grove
• Anthony Richard, 44, of Locust Grove

All 11 defendants agreed to pay restitution to the victims of their fraud scheme, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which insures many of the residential mortgages in the U.S. Sentencing hearings have been set for the defendants before U.S. District Judge Mark H. Cohen.

A 12th defendant, Cephus Chapman, 49, of Warner Robins, is awaiting trial. The indictment only contains charges and Chapman is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The case is still being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General and Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General.