Cleveland-Area Cops Welcome Training In Mortgage Fraud Investigations

Buried in a recent article in The Cleveland Plain Dealer was this blurb on local law enforcement receiving training in mortgage fraud investigations:

• Mortgage fraud and related crimes have run rampant in the Cleveland area and fed the region's foreclosure mess. Federal, state and local investigators have launched a host of joint investigations. Solon [, Ohio] police, who have become schooled in the subject, are checking into as many as 50 possible cases, said Lt. Christopher Viland, head of the detective bureau.

• Other police departments are still getting up to speed, so the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office and state attorney general's office conducted a seminar for officers, city prosecutors and other officials Friday at the Main Library in Cleveland.

• Shaker Heights Police Chief Walter Ugrinic welcomes the task force's help. "This is a new world for police," Ugrinic said as he left the seminar. "If we are really going to go after these, we need people who are trained to spot that stuff."

Source: Solon builder leaving construction business due to mortgage fraud connections (Admits similar schemes involving 38 properties).