<p>A federal grand jury has indicted 13 people in an alleged mortgage-fraud scheme including more than 100 homes worth more than $20 million.</p><p>Officials said Wednesday that a closing attorney, real-estate agents and appraisers were among those charged in the alleged fraud, which prosecutors said occurred from mid-1999 until this past March in four subdivisions in Stone Mountain and Lithonia in DeKalb County.</p><p>Fraudulently obtained names, Social Security numbers and identities of students attending Florida A&M University's Pharmacy School were used on loan applications, the indictment said. The federal indictment said that the stolen Social Security number of a 2-year-old boy was used to open a Citizens Trust Bank account to collect proceeds of the scheme.</p><p>U.S. Attorney William S. Duffey Jr. credited alert residents who saw homes in their Stone Mountain subdivision fetching unrealistically sky-high prices for tipping off investigators.</p><p>"This case was made," Duffey said, "because vigilant citizens became aware of suspicious sales in their communities and told us about them."</p><p>Mike Grier, 37, a Century 21 real estate agent who has lived in the Waters Edge subdivision for nine years, said $160,000 homes were being sold for as much as $275,000.</p><p>"We just knew something wasn't right," Grier said.</p><p>Those charged were identified as: Chalana McFarland, who owned the McFarland Law Firm in Stone Mountain; her paralegals, Brenda Brown and Lisa Bellamy; Judy Hooper, a former mortgage broker who is a fugitive; real estate agent Thomas Christopher Davis Sr.; Jewel and Sidney Williams, a couple accused of destroying mortgage closing and loan files; appraisers Brandon Wilhite, James Frederick Pettigrew and Kenneth Earl Collins; Omar Rashad Turral, who allegedly sold the identities of the Florida A&M students; Melinda Renee Tyner, who allegedly processed fraudulent loans; and Melvin Howard Quillen, who allegedly recruited borrowers.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x2866118)</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/5/169124