Complaints Identify Pair For Alleged Roles In Racket That Used Powers Of Attorney From Duped Homeowners To Take Control Of Underwater Homes, Then Lease Them Out & Pocket Rent

In Tampa, Florida, Newschannel 8 reports:

• For years now, real estate agent Sunnie Finkle and bail bondsman G.T. Wilson II have tried to make a living from Florida’s foreclosure crisis.
  
  Now they’re named in a complaint to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office over a method they used with more than a dozen homeowners: Sign them up for a short sale, obtain power of attorney, rent the house to someone else, and keep the proceeds.
  
  “I do think I’ve been taken advantage of,” said Peggy Vieira, the New Port Richey homeowner who filed the complaint. “I blame both of them.”
  
  Vieira said she had no idea Wilson leased the home after she signed papers with Finkle to do a short sale, which involves persuading the bank to accept a payoff of less than the amount owed on the mortgage.
  
  David Wein, the renter, had no idea Vieira was the owner of the home and joined her in the Pasco complaint. “We got caught up in it,” Wein said.
  
  Finkle and Wilson were involved in similar deals in Hillsborough and Polk counties.
  
  A search of public records turned up more than a dozen cases in which homeowners granted Wilson power of attorney. Finkle put the number at 39. There is no evidence, however, that a short sale to Wilson was ever completed.
  
  “I’ve never had a closing with her,” said Lesley Lambert, regional manager for Universal Land Title, whose company has been handling paperwork on proposed short sales initiated by Finkle since October.

For more, see Pasco foreclosure 'helpers' profit at owners' expense (A Tampa Bay couple may have swindled homeowners in three counties. They took advantage of homeowners facing foreclosure).