Michigan Man Gets 4 Months In Jail For Pocketing Proceeds Of Foreclosure Rescue Deal

In Grand Rapids, Michigan, WOOD-TV Channel 8 reports:

• Tony O'Neal is in the Kent County Jail starting a four-month sentence for cashing a check belonging to a couple whose home was facing foreclosure. O'Neal brokered a deal in which Carl and Dreama Henderson sold their threatened home to a third party, who rented it back to them. In the process, the Hendersons were supposed to get some $30,000 back from the equity in their home. O'Neal offered to cash the check for them. He kept the money. [...] The Hendersons trusted O'Neal. He worked for a major national mortgage company at the time, and did foreclosure rescue deals on the side. Last fall the Hendersons asked Target 8 Investigators to look into the matter. They also contacted Grand Rapids police detectives. They caught up with O'Neal in December and got a warrant charging him with larceny by conversion.

O'Neal was sent to jail for four months, put on probation for four years and ordered to repay the Hendersons some $27,000. Aside from the proceeds of the cashed check illegally pocketed by O'Neal, no word on how much more the Hendersons got ripped off on the actual foreclosure rescue deal itself. For more, see Man jailed for 'foreclosure rescue' theft.

Go here to watch the WOOD-TV Channel 8 video report.

Editor's Note: In a prior post, a foreclosure rescue, sale leaseback transaction was described involving a homeowner facing foreclosure that took place in the same general area of Western Michigan as this story. In that case, the homeowner sued the foreclosure rescue operator and successfully voided the foreclosure rescue transaction. For more, see Foreclosure Rescue Operator Violates Federal Law, State Usury Law. Representing the homeowner in that case was attorney Phillip C. Rogers, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Maybe the homeowners in this case should look into getting an attorney to pursue voiding the foreclosure rescue transaction altogether.

For more on equity stripping scams, generally,see DREAMS FORECLOSED: The Rampant Theft of Americans' Homes Through Equity-stripping Foreclosure 'Rescue' Scams (4.61 MB approx.).