Ohio Appeals Court Affirms Theft Convictions, Reverses Others In Cleveland-Area Equity Stripping, Foreclosure Rescue Sale Leaseback Scam

An Ohio appellate court this month issued rulings, affirming in part and reversing in part, the convictions of two criminal defendants in connection with an equity stripping, foreclosure rescue scam.(1)

Defendant Sammy Quick appealed his convictions for two counts of theft, securing writings by deception, mortgage broker prohibition, and receiving stolen property. Defendant Brian Cicerchi appealed convictions for theft, securing records by deception, and telecommunications fraud.

After considering the matter, the appeals court reversed the convictions of securing writings by deception as to both defendants, and the conviction relating to mortgage broker prohibition as to Quick. All other convictions were affirmed.

For the entire rulings of the Ohio appeals court, see:

• State v. Quick, 2009-Ohio-2124 (May 7, 2009),
• State v. Cicerchi, 2009-Ohio-2249 (May 14, 2009).

(1) The victims in this case were an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer's and her adult daughter who was struggling with drug dependency problems. According to the court decisions, the daughter, who was facing foreclosure, called Sammy Quick and asked him for assistance. He proposed a scheme whereby she could save her home and continue to live there, while at the same time working toward reestablishing her credit. He told her they would “take the house out of my name” for a period of one year to 18 months and at the end of that time, the house would “go back into my name and that I would begin to make payments.” During the time that she did not have title to the house, she would pay rent to the person who did own title. The homeowner testified that at no point did she understand Quick to be proposing that she would sell her house, and she believed that she would get her house back after she rehabilitated her credit. Quick soon asked the homeowner to “sign[] some papers,” but she did not know what those papers were. She thought that she would be receiving $10,000 to pay off her credit cards as a result of transferring the house, but received nothing.