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GoogleMeanwhile, a Shelbyville man who intends to enter his own guilty plea has had a hearing date set.
Jonathon B. Henderson gave notice Tuesday of his decision to plead guilty to counts one and four of the federal indictment that was handed down against him and three others in May.
His change of plea hearing is set for Sept. 15 at 1 p.m. at the federal courthouse in Chattanooga before District Judge Harry S. Mattice Jr., according to federal court documents.
Henderson joins fellow defendants Roger Ritch, William McMahan, Carrie Snow and Bradley Aydelott in entering guilty pleas for their role in the multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme that involved hundreds of homes in Shelbyville. Aydelott was indicted for his role in the conspiracy in July.
Counts one and four of the indictment states that Henderson obtained financing under false pretenses and falsely represented the employment status and income of borrowers.
The scheme involved the sale of houses by Ritch's company, Amercian Value Homes, totalling approximately $30 million. Foreclosure on the fraudulent loans has resulted in a loss to lenders totaling approximately $2.4 million, according to the Bedford County Sheriff's Department.
Meanwhile, Ritch has a change of plea hearing set for Monday, Sept. 21 at 1 p.m. in Chattanooga. Ritch's change of plea hearing is the same day as Aydelott's, while Snow is to be sentenced on Nov. 2 in Chattanooga, and McMahan is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 23 before Mattice.
The federal indictments allege that the five devised a scheme to obtain financing under false pretenses for purchasers of residential properties developed by American Value Homes, a construction company that Ritch owned in Shelbyville.
As part of the scheme, the indictment alleges that the defendants did business as Mortgage Processing Services and Value Title, prepared loan applications containing false information, misrepresented the down payment amount made by borrowers, and falsely represented the employment status and income of borrowers.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Humble said last month that the fraud count could bring a maximum sentence of 30 years and a $1 million fine and the money laundering charge could result in a maximum sentence of 10 years and a $500,000 fine.
However, Humble said he doubted that the defendants would receive that much time in prison.
The five are free after signing an agreement which requires a $20,000 bond that can be revoked by a federal judge if the suspects do anything to violate the terms. Even a traffic ticket could place them back in federal custody.
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I wonder if Roger Ritch, William McMahan, Carrie Snow Bradley Aydelott or Jonathon Henderson have put much thought in to how may lives they destroyed. What about the honest hard working family that was paying for a home and had to tell their children, "we no longer have a home?" What about their own families that have had to live through the embarrassment? Who is going to cut the honest people a deal?
I too wonder what the vicitms of these crimes will recoup? Satisfaction is one thing but what about the loss of a financial investment? Even today, you can look at the market value of the homes and see that thye are still not valued at the original cost. My appraisal company did not even exist. When I went to the address given me in the closing statement, it was an empty field. I am not the only one who had this problem. It was a very humiliating experience to go into bankruptcy. The day I was in bankruptcy court, there were several of us there who had been scammed and frauded by these people. I don't expect monetary gain. I would just like to pay off my banksuptcy and get on with my life. These people will never serve enough time to compensate for the damage they have done to hundreds of lives. There should be some type of monetary settlementt to all their victims. Unless of course they have hidden their profits somewhere other than Ritch's local bank.