Jersey City Man Cops Guilty Plea To Recording Forged Lien Satisfaction To Create Impression That Existing Mortgage Was Fully Paid, Then Using Purportedly Free & Clear Property As Security To Score Another Loan

In Hudson County, New Jersey, The Jersey Journal reports:

• Former state Senate and Assembly candidate Bruce Alston faces up to three years in prison and $133,500 in restitution after pleading guilty to theft by deception stemming from a 27-count indictment alleging a sophisticated mortgage fraud scheme.
  
  Alston, 44, of Jersey City, was indicted along with his sister, Gail Alston, 50; his mother, Helen Alston, and ex-girlfriend Maisha Taylor, 42, of Newark, authorities said.
  
  Helen Alston pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft, but the 70-year-old is expected to get a probationary sentence only.
  
  "I'm just glad it's over," Bruce Alston said after pleading guilty Thursday. He also said he has already paid back $172,000 to one of two mortgage firms involved in the scam. "I'm glad it's resolved and something that me and my family can put behind us."
  
  The charges against the two other defendants are expected to be dropped, officials said.
  
  Bruce Alston admitted taking out a mortgage for a Jersey City property and then filing fraudulent paperwork that made it appear the mortgage had been fully paid off.
  
  He then secured a second mortgage to purchase a property.
  
  His mother was charged with allowing the money from the scam to be deposited into her bank account. The crimes occurred between Oct. 1, 2011, and Oct. 31, 2015.
  
  Among the charges filed against various defendants in the case were theft by deception, conspiracy, theft by failure to make required disposition of property received, making a simulated document, tampering with public records or information, falsifying records, forgery and wrongful impersonation, the complaint says.
  
  Bruce Alston could have faced five to 10 years in prison if convicted on the count to which he pleaded guilty.
  
  In January 2012, Bruce Alston and Taylor were charged with conspiring to sell a parcel of Jersey City real estate they did not own and then using the sale proceeds to buy the property themselves, authorities said at the time. Those charges were later dropped after the alleged victim died.
  
  Bruce Alston will be sentenced on Oct. 28 by Hudson County Superior Court Judge Mitzy Galis-Menendez in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City. Helen Alston will be sentenced by Galis-Menendez on Oct. 20.

Source: Bruce Alston pleads guilty in mortgage scam, faces 3 years in prison.