According to the plea agreements filed in federal court in Fort Myers, the defendants operated a “cash-out” mortgage fraud conspiracy in Cape Coral between 2007 and 2008. They reported inflated sales prices to lenders and falsified applications for loans based on the higher prices. They then kept the excess loan proceeds at closing for themselves.

The men purportedly targeted “for sale by owner” homes after the housing market started to bust and offered to pay the sellers their asking price. They then told the sellers that the final paperwork would show a higher amount so that the buyers could use the excess cash to fund “future improvements.” They then found third-party buyers to obtain loans based on inflated sales prices, falsifying loan qualification information and creating fictitious cashier’s checks, bank statements, W-2s, and other documents to support the mortgage loan applications.

At closing, the charged men had the excess loan funds wired to entities under their control, showing the funds as payoffs for “existing liabilities” on the HUD settlement statements. They then divided the excess loan funds among themselves.

On the most of the properties, the “buyers” made approximately three payments on the mortgages and walked away, leaving the homes to foreclosure.

Prosecutors say that the men obtained more than $4.2 million in loans on eight properties in the Cape Coral area. In one case, the selling price of the house was $355,000, but the HUD statement showed a sales price of $725,000.

This case was part of the Middle District of Florida’s Mortgage Fraud Initiative, which is a joint effort by state and federal law enforcement and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Prater served as his own attorney during his trial, which is certainly allowed but never advised due to the nuances of criminal and constitutional law as well as the detailed rules which govern trial procedure.

In his own defense, he claimed that income earned in the United States is generally not taxable. According to law enforcement, Prater perpetrated a scheme by which he purported to help his clients “legally” avoid paying income taxes. He claimed he could legally remove his clients from the federal tax system.

He also advised clients to conceal assets and income from the IRS through shell LLCs and other corporate entities.

Prater charged fees to prepare false tax returns and falsified documents that were submitted to the Internal Revenue Service on behalf of his clients. Between 2000 and 2003, Prater’s gross receipts for these services exceeded $2 million, according to prosecutors.

Prater’s sentencing is scheduled for May 24. He faces up to 33 years in federal prison. He has several prior felony convictions for insurance fraud, theft and cocaine possession, dating back to 1983.

In 2005, Prater, among others, sued the IRS, alleging its collection of taxes was illegal. That lawsuit was dismissed by a federal district court judge who stated that the suit lacked any basis in the law.

Branks was indicted last September and pleaded guilty in November to filing 274 fraudulent asylum petitions. After a pre-sentence investigation, Branks appeared for sentencing. The judge sentenced her to four years and nine months in federal prison.

Under federal law, asylum in the United States is offered for citizens of foreign countries who fear or have experienced government-sponsored or -abided persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. Filing an application for asylum is free.

The requirements for asylum to be granted, however, are very strict. Services such as those offered at La Gringa in Clearwater help immigrants muddle their way through the various immigration requirements and assist them in completing and filing all necessary paperwork.

Beginning in 2001, Branks included false information in her clients’ asylum applications to make it appear they were being persecuted, according to law enforcement. They claimed that Branks created stories of persecution to ensure approval of claims.

According to prosecutors, Branks prepared false medical letters, political party affiliation letters and proof of employment letters. She was also accused of coaching clients about what to say about their asylum applications in interviews and court testimony so that their statements would line up with their falsified documents.

See Also:

• Clearwater Woman Indicted for Immigration Fraud

Now prosecutors in Pinellas County will review the case to decide whether to pursue the death penalty.

The baby was 5-weeks old when he died earlier this month due to blunt trauma. Wall was considered a suspect at the time. Taft got a temporary restraining order against Wall, saying she feared he would kill her.

Wall was arrested on Valentine’s DAy when he appeared at the baby’s funeral. He was charged with the misdemeanor of violating a domestic violence injunction. He was released on $1,000 bail the next day when a prosecutor failed to point out to the judge that Wall was a suspect in the baby’s death. That fact was contained in the arrest affidavit.

During the bail hearing, Wall denied doing anything wrong, saying, “My son died, sir, and she got mad at me. I have not did anything to her.”

Two days later, Taft was stabbed to death in her new apartment and Wall was seen driving from the scene.

Law enforcement says that Wall was not charged with the infant’s murder earlier because additional information tying him to the crime was not available from the medical examiner until last week.

Prosecutors quickly announced that they plan to retry Walker for first-degree murder, burglary and robbery. He faces life imprisonment if convicted.

Caldwell’s boyfriend, Raymond Lee, testified at trial that Walker burst into their home back in October, 2003 and then held him and Caldwell’s granddaughter at gunpoint, robbed him and then fatally shot Caldwell when she wouldn’t stop screaming.

Lee picked Walker out of a series of photographs his sister found on the Internet. They took the photo to police and Lee picked Walker out of a photo lineup in December 2003.

At trial, Walker’s attorneys relied heavily on the fact that law enforcement did not seem terribly convinced by Lee’s identification of Walker wasn’t arrested until much later. “If Raymond Lee was so sure about the identification in 2003, doesn’t it suggest someone in law enforcement had some doubts,” the defense attorney argued.

Lee said his assailant had a scar on his cheek. Defense attorneys pointed out that Walker has no such scar.

Jurors apparently weren’t convinced by prosecutors use of Walker’s own statements to police in which he didn’t deny the crime, simply telling officers that he doesn’t tell on himself. Prosecutors also called a jail inmate as a witness. The inmate testified that Walker implicated himself during conversations they had this month while waiting to be transferred from the courthouse back to jail.

Defense attorneys noted that many of the details the inmate provided about the crime were inaccurate. Prosecutors counted by arguing that the errors were due to Walker’s minimization of his own guilt.

There they allegedly discovered Matthew and Beth Cantin as well as chemicals used to make meth and hardware to cook it in a “one pot” system. The alleged meth manufacturing set-up was located in the garage.

Three children — ages 6 months to 9 years — live at the home with the Cantins. Law enforcement claims that the children were present when the Cantins cooked meth, which can result in toxic fumes and explosions.

Both parents now face the federal charge of conspiring to manufacture methamphetamine on premises where children were present or resided. The maximum penalty is 40 years in prison.

Those in the cars were targeting a group of people who had thrown cinder blocks at one of their cars. McDuffie, an honors student at Blake High School, was not the instigator of the conflict and had just walked to the corner when he was struck in the head by a bullet.

Bell later went to Tampa General Hospital because he was shot in the hand. Prosecutors did not have enough evidence to charge any of the other shooters with a crime, although they believe they know their identities.

During the trial, prosecutors couldn’t prove Bell fired the fatal shot, but showed that he participated in the group shooting. He pointed a gun out the window and shot it. The  jury found him guilty of second-degree murder and attempted murder.

At sentencing, the defense asked for the minimum sentence, 20 years. The prosecution asked for life. Ultimately, the judge sentenced Bell to 35 years in prison followed by 15 years of probation.

Prosecutors had previously offered Bell a plea deal of 20 years. Bell turned that offer down.

According to law enforcement, Moore approached Shakespeare in 2007, telling him that she was interested in writing a book about his life. She ultimately become something of a financial advisor to Shakespeare. Within a few months, she had control over $3.5 million of his assets.

Shakespeare went missing last April, although his family did not report him missing until November.

Police now say that Moore went to extreme lengths to make it seem that Shakespeare was still alive. She even had someone call Shakespeare’s mother, pretending to be Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s mother didn’t think it sounded like her son and police traced the phone number back to Gregory Todd Smith. They found Smith the next day, meeting with Moore.

Smith told police that Moore had paid him to make the call as well as a call to a Polk detective to claim he had recently spotted the missing man alive in Miami.

Records indicate that Shakespeare was shot twice with a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver that deputies said Moore turned over to Gregory Todd Smith, who was working with authorities. Moore reportedly asked Smith if he knew anyone who would be willing to confess to killing Shakespeare. Smith said he knew someone already facing a lengthy prison term who would be willing to do it for $50,000.

But the man was an undercover Lake Wales police officer who met with Moore and Smith on Jan. 21. The officer said he would need more details about the killing to make his confession convincing. During the meeting, police said, Moore agreed to tell him where Shakespeare’s body was buried and that she had the gun that killed him.

After she showed him where the body was buried, police obtained a search warrant and discovered Shakespeare’s body.

The 22-page arrest affidavit said Moore kept switching the blame for Shakespeare’s slaying from a drug dealer named Ronald; to herself in self-defense; Shakespeare’s cousin; her own 14-year-old son, R.J.; and finally Plant City attorney David Stitzel, who had arranged many of the transactions transferring Shakespeare’s assets to Moore.

“Ms. Moore has provided several accounts as to how Abraham Shakespeare was killed,” recounts the affidavit. “In every account, Ms. Moore has admitted being present when Abraham Shakespeare was killed.”

Moore was already being held on a million-dollar bond for a charge of accessory after the fact to a first-degree murder in connection with Shakespeare’s death. The first-degree murder charge was added Friday night.

According to the arrest affidavit, Allen revved the engine of his Ferrari at a police barricade at about 3:30 a.m. When an officer approached, Allen lowered his window, and told the officer, “I gotta get through.”

When the officer told Allen that the road was closed due to a traffic accident, Allen reportedly replied, “You don’t understand. I gotta get through.” Officers noticed that Allen had bloodshot eyes and a “constant sleepy look.” They asked him to get out of his car four times before he finally exited the car.

The arrest report indicates that Allen was given two Breathalyzer tests, as required under Florida law. The result of one test showed his blood alcohol level at more than twice the legal limit of .08. The other test registered .152, according to the arrest affidavit.

A nine-year NFL veteran, Allen missed the final 10 games last season because of a knee injury that required surgery.

Hampton was convicted of the murder back in June 2009. After returning a guilty verdict and hearing additional evidence and testimony related to sentencing, the jury voted 9-3 vote in favor of giving Hampton the death penalty.

Although Hampton gave police several different accounts to explain the incriminating evidence, including blood on his clothing, he ultimately said that he accidentally killed McKinnes because she came after him while he was going through her apartment looking for cocaine. Prosecutors aid Hampton raped McInnes and slit her throat, before trying to wash his DNA off her body with cleaning chemicals and lighter fluid.

Luce found statutory aggravating factors included that Hampton was on probation for failing to register as a sex offender when he committed the murder and that the murder was committed during the course of a burglary, robbery and sexual battery. He also found some mitigating factors that argue against the death penalty, including the fact that Hampton suffers from mental health problems.

Ultimately, Luce found the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors and gave great weight to the jury’s vote before imposing the death sentence.

See Also:

• Death Penalty Trial Underway in Pinellas County