The Mortgage Fraud Blog

In the following press release U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor, Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, C. André Martin, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office, and Thomas E. Hampton, Commissioner of the District of Columbia’s Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking announced that a 35-year-old District of Columbia man, Duane McKinney, most recently of 1000 10th Street, NE, Washington, D.C., was found guilty today by a jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on charges of fraud, theft, and monetary transactions.

Specifically, McKinney was found guilty of four counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, three counts of first degree theft, and two counts of monetary transactions. McKinney is scheduled to be sentenced on July 15, 2008, before the Honorable Judge Reggie B. Walton. At sentencing, McKinney faces a likely range of imprisonment of 87 - 108 months under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

The government’s evidence at trial established that Duane McKinney obtained title to D.C. and Maryland properties through forged deeds, that is, deeds which purported to be signed by the owners transferring the properties to McKinney or his non-profit business. In fact, the deeds were not signed by the owners; the vast majority of the owners were deceased at the time of the forged and false deeds. McKinney was assisted by Joe D. Liles, who would sign his name to these false deeds as the “notary” falsely stating that he saw the owner sign the deeds as grantor and that the owner “personally appeared before him.” Once the deeds were notarized, McKinney caused the forged and notarized deeds to be filed with the District of Columbia’s Recorder of Deeds and the Prince George’s Circuit Court Land Records. McKinney would then sell the properties as if they belonged to him or his non-profit business and would use the money for his own personal desires. McKinney wrongfully obtained approximately 14 properties, nine of which he sold in order to gain for himself more than $770,000.

Liles, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, pleaded guilty on January 16, 2008, to the charge of false statements. Liles is scheduled to be sentenced on May 30, 2008 before Judge Walton.

In announcing today’s verdict, U.S. Attorney Taylor, Assistant Director in Charge Persichini, Special Agent in Charge Martin, and Commissioner Hampton commended Special Agents Kelly Bender, FBI, and Ronald D. Williams, IRS, and Fraud Investigator Annette D. Beresford, Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking. They also noted the assistance of Special Agents Brian Smith (FBI), Lori Garner (IRS), Cindy Buskey (DEA), Aaron Ybarra (ATF), and Deena P. Wilson (Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General) and Arlington County Police Department members James O’Daniel and Steven Meinke. In addition, they commended paralegal specialists Melanie Howard and Jeanne Latimore-Brown, legal assistant April Peeler, Kimberly Smith, Litigation Support, Assistant U.S. Attorneys William R. Cowden, William B. Wiegand, Diane Lucas, Judith A. Kidwell, former Assistant U.S. Attorney James Flood, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Virginia Cheatham, who prosecuted the case.