Two People Indicted for Half-Million Dollar Mortgage Fraud Scheme in Monmouth County

A Monmouth County grand jury returned a five-count indictment Monday charging a West Virginia woman and a Georgia man in a conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud on a Farmingdale property, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced.

Vanessa Hoey, 37, of West Virginia, and Joseph Lantier, 37 of Georgia, are charged with one count of second degree Conspiracy, two counts of second degree Theft by Deception and two counts of third degree Uttering a Forged Instrument.

An investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office revealed that from July 2007 until October 2009, a mortgage was executed on a property located at 50 Academy Street, Farmingdale. Joseph Lantier sold the property to Vanessa Hoey in July 2007, and on November 27, 2007, Hoey filed a Satisfaction of Mortgage with the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office. Hoey then sold the property in 2008, and represented she owned 50 Academy Street free and clear. Hoey was given over $330,000 in proceeds from the sale of the property. It was later determined the Satisfaction of Mortgage was fraudulent and there were in fact outstanding liens. Hoey also filed a second Satisfaction of Mortgage on a home equity line of credit in the amount of $222,000. Hoey and Lantier were making payments on both mortgages well into 2009. An analysis of bank records showed the proceeds from both false satisfactions were shared by Hoey and Lantier.

Hoey is free on $100,000 bail, and Lantier is free after posting $75,000 bail, as set by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge John T. Mullaney, Jr., J.S.C.

A second degree crime carries a maximum state prison sentence of up to 10 years.

A third degree crime carries a maximum sentence of three to five years in state prison.

Despite these charges, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and State law.