Central Florida Fraudster Cops Plea; Two Others Face Trials

The Orlando Sentinel reports:

• "An Osceola County man accused of defrauding home buyers and mortgage lenders faces five years in prison and 15 years of probation as part of a plea he entered Thursday in Osceola Circuit Court. Leandro Javier Obenauer, 38, was charged with racketeering and other offenses in 2004 after he was accused of swindling thousands of dollars from lenders and first-time Central Florida home buyers or those with low income or poor credit in a scheme dating back to 1999. [...] The state said Obenauer and co-conspirators purchased low-value properties at a discount, and resold them at inflated prices while pretending to represent the property owners. They obtained the loans with falsified information and negotiated contracts worth more than the houses, putting buyers in loans for which they did not qualify and which they could not afford to repay ..."

Reportedly, seventeen families lost money. Trials for co-defendant Robert E. Merchant and Scott Hutchinson, 51, of Winter Springs, a real-estate appraiser who prosecutors said inflated the values of houses and charged with organized fraud of more than $50,000, are pending. For more, see Osceola man pleads guilty in real-estate fraud case.

Go here for Florida Attorney General Press Release - Osceola Man Pleads Guilty to Mortgage Fraud Scheme.

For story update, see Man gets prison time for fraud. (Obenauer was sentenced to five years in a prison and 15 years probation Monday. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering and grand theft of over $100,000 -- both first-degree felonies -- in addition to four counts of third-degree grand theft) (Orlando Sentinel - 9-11-07).