So you've committed mortgage fraud and got caught, what next?

Our blog analytic software shows that one of the most googled phrases that lands people on this site is "I've committed mortgage fraud", I suppose these people are here on our blog looking for an answer to the mess that they've found themselves in. Say for the sake of argument that you've already been arrested and have had criminal charges filed against you, where are you headed? I can't speak for how things would work for you outside of Miami Dade county, but if you did get busted here in Miami, guess what? YOU'RE IN LUCK!

Am I nuts? Is this some sort of joke? After all, everything that's available online suggests that if you've been arrested for participating in mortgage fraud, YOUR ASS IS GOING DOWN! We've heard prosecutors say "There's no room for probation" and "Probation is not an option", those are very strong words but is that what really happens? We've already seen brilliant police work by Sgt. Richard Davis in one of the first Mortgage Fraud Task Force arrests that then became nothing more than a slap on the wrist for the people that were charged. From what we've seen in that case we're lead to believe that the case fell apart once it was turned over to the prosecutor. Was that an isolated incident? Was the prosecutor in that case asleep at the wheel?

Let's give the prosecutor the benefit of the doubt and chalk up the lame prosecution of the afore mentioned case to bad luck for the state, surely there are plenty of other headline cases made by the Mortgage Fraud Task Force that were prosecuted by the State Attorneys Office that sent the bad guys up the river with lengthy prison sentences, right? I'm sure we're going to find some prosecutions that are going to make the Mortgage Fraud Task Force members who investigated these cases proud, let's take a look at what happened to these cases after they were handed off to the prosecutor...

Milton Ibanez Case #F-08-014551-A

Case Disposition

What's that? Probation? Mr. Ibanez is accused of $435,000 worth of fraud and he gets probation. This isn't going to work, let's move on to the next case,

Caridad Marrero Case # F-08-005628

Case Disposition

Charges dropped! Something haywire there, let's keep looking...

Hilda E. Cardelle Case #F-08-009458-A

Case Disposition

AH HAH! The mortgage fraud charge was dropped, at least the 1st degree grand theft charge is still pending! Upon further inspection we find that Ms. Cardelle is about to plead on 2/12/2010, so this case isn't going to work either. Let's keep looking for a solid prosecution of one of these mortgage fraudsters...

Ana Ferrer Case #F-08-012976

Case Disposition

DAMN! Another case where probation was handed out. $HIT! Let's keep looking, next we find the Martinez-Cano mortgage fraud gang accused of stealing $368,000! Look at these fraudsters! I'm sure their asses got locked up!

HELL YES! Fancy graphics and all! Let's take a look at the nasty sentence these crooks got!

Manuel Martinez Case #F-08-011743-B

OK, maybe Mr. Martinez was innocent, let's move on to Helen Martinez-Cano, she looks suspicious to say the least...

Helen Martinez-Cano Case #F-08-011743-A

Jeeze, all three charges dropped? Ok, I get it, the real bad guy was the remaining defendant in the case, Roberto Cano, I'm sure they threw the book at him!

Roberto Cano Case #F-08-011743-C

WHAT?! $368,000 worth of mortgage fraud and the man got PROBATION!? WTF?! Ok, let's look at one last set for today...

There you go! Sandra Prosperi and Carmen Baeza accused of stealing $712,000!!!! What did they get, 5, 10 or 20 years? Let's look...

Sandra Prosperi Case #F-08-005940-A

WHAT?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? MORE PROBATION?! More than $700,000 in fraud and all she got was probation? Certainly, the prosecutor must have thrown the book at her partner right? Let's see...

Carmen Balbuena-Baeza Case #F-08-005940-B

HOLY $HIT! MORE PROBATION?! Are you kidding me? We've just outlined $2,134,116 worth of mortgage fraud between nine defendants and all the prosecutor was able to nail them with was FCUKING PROBATION? This can't be right, certainly there must be some sort of mistake. You can pull a gun on someone and steal their wallet and have to do jail time, how do these people get away with committing this level of financial crime in the multi millions and only get probation? We've already established that the cops that put these cases together do good police work and bring in solid cases so why does everything seem to fall apart once the case gets into the prosecutors hands?

Let's not jump to any conclusions yet, perhaps what we've found in these nine cases is just an anomaly. I'm going to go back over to the courthouse tomorrow and research more mortgage fraud cases that have been prosecuted by the local state attorneys office, I'm sure we'll find some cases were nasty prison sentences were handed out to the crooks. Stay tuned till tomorrow.