In the following press release Mary Beth Buchanan, United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania announced that a nine-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury charges Crystal Spreng, age 38, of 329 Stoney Hollow Road, Cabot, Pennsylvania, with Aiding and Abetting Wire Fraud.

According to the indictment, an individual known to the grand jury devised a mortgage fraud scheme that involved the submission of fraudulent loan applications that contained misrepresentations related to the borrowers’ financial condition.

The mortgage fraud scheme also involved the submission to lenders of fraudulent Verifications of Deposit (VOD) from Citizens Bank that purportedly verified that the borrowers had funds in accounts at Citizens Bank. The Verifications of Deposit were fraudulent in that some of the borrowers did not even have accounts at Citizens Bank, and if they did have accounts, their account balances were overstated.

The indictment alleges that Spreng, who was an employee of Citizens Bank, aided and abetted the mortgage fraud scheme by verifying the accuracy of the Verifications of Deposit when called by the lending institutions, when she then knew that the Verifications of Deposit were fraudulent.

These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Brendan C. Conway. The Mortgage Fraud Task Force conducted the investigation leading to the indictments and Bill of Information in these cases.