'Single Mom' Straw Buyer w/ Few Assets Who Bought Ten Homes That Ended In Foreclosure Cops Quick Plea, Blows Whistle On Alleged Mortgage Fraud Racket

In Tampa, Florida, the St. Petersburg Times reports:

• Three Tampa Bay men have been indicted in a $1.84 million mortgage fraud involving 10 properties purchased without a penny down. The indictment unsealed Tuesday stems from a 2006 St. Petersburg Times story detailing a mysterious real estate spending spree by a single mother with few assets.(1)

• But federal prosecutors say the single mother was a "straw buyer" and that William Ondra Joel II, 31, of Wesley Chapel was actually behind the purchases. Joel, president of Investor's Outlet Inc. in Tampa, is charged with mail fraud, conspiracy and making false statements to a financial institution.

• Also indicted on identical charges are the company's vice president, Maurice Vernon, 32, of Tampa, and Elton Lassiter, 44, of Odessa, a loan processor for an unidentified lender. All could get 30 years in prison if convicted. Family members of the three men declined comment at the first appearance in court Tuesday.

• The straw buyer, Jill Taylor, 35, of St. Petersburg, is cooperating with prosecutors. Known as Jill Jackson at the time she signed to buy the 10 properties, Taylor pleaded guilty in November 2009 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and faces up to five years in prison.

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• By 2007, all 10 of the properties were in foreclosure. Taylor told the Times she had been foolish to fall for the get-rich-quick scheme pitched by Joel, a church acquaintance. Taylor also said she simply followed instructions to buy 10 Tampa properties she had never seen. She paid $700,000 more than the county property appraiser said they were worth. "They arranged everything," Taylor told the Times. "They picked out the properties. They selected the lenders. I was just told to go to closings, and that's what I did." But Taylor said, "I didn't know what I was doing. I don't have any background in real estate."

For more, see Feds indict men in mortgage fraud scheme.

(1) See Home buying spree snaps (A year after a woman bought 10 overpriced properties, she's not the only one hurting):

• Jill Jackson, a single mom and apartment renter with an annual take-home pay of about $24,000, managed to go on an incredible real estate buying binge last year.