Prison For Sayreville Man In Mortgage Fraud Case

SAYREVILLE, NJ — A Sayreville man and a Toms River woman were sentenced to prison Wednesday for their roles in a mortgage-fraud scheme, acting U.S. Attorney Rachael Honig announced.

Robert Goodrich, 62, of Sayreville, and Shonda Coleman, 49, of Toms River, were previously charged with bank fraud.

Goodrich had previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 27 months in prison. Coleman pleaded guilty Wednesday and was sentenced to a longer term, 36 months in prison.

Federal prosecutors say that from 2009 to 2011 Coleman worked at Westinghouse Redevelopment Act Inc., a New Jersey private business. In November 2009, she submitted a fraudulent mortgage loan application to the lender to finance her own purchase of a home from Westinghouse.

Coleman lied on the application saying, among other things, that she owned $165,000 in cash, a representation intended to make Coleman appear more creditworthy than she actually was, said prosecutors.

In March 2011, Coleman again participated in the mortgage fraud scheme by helping to prepare and submit a mortgage application for a prospective buyer of a Westinghouse real estate property that she knew contained false information regarding the buyer’s finances.

Goodrich appeared at the closings for both the November 2009 and March 2011 transactions and signed settlement statements that he knew contained false information regarding the buyers’ creditworthiness.

Special agents with the federal Housing Finance Agency and the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) investigated this case.

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Contact this Patch reporter: Carly.baldwin@patch.com