In the following press release it was announced by the Oregon State Police that a Sandy-area pastor was arrested Friday morning related to criminal allegations involving multiple victims’ real estate transactions. The ongoing criminal investigation involved federal, state, and local authorities, and a tip line is available for anyone with information regarding the suspect’s activities.

On May 4, 2007 at approximately 10:40 a.m. COREY JERRY PRITCHETT (pictured below), age 44, from Sandy, was taken into custody at the Sandy public library by detectives from Oregon State Police and Oregon City Police Department, and a postal inspector from the US Postal Inspections Service. PRITCHETT is being lodged in Multnomah County Jail on the following charges:

• Aggravated Theft (two counts – class B felony)
• Theft in the First Degree (5 counts – class C felony)
• Theft in the Second Degree (2 counts – class A misdemeanor)
• Securities Fraud (3 counts – class B felony)
• Selling an Unregistered Security (3 counts – class B felony)
• Sales of Securities by an Unregistered Person (3 counts – class B felony)

The joint investigation is continuing and additional charges are expected in Multnomah and other counties. The following agencies have been involved in this joint investigation: Oregon State Police ; Department of Consumer and Business Services, Division of Finance and Corporate Securities ; Oregon Department of Justice ; Oregon City Police Department; Portland Police Bureau and the U nited States Postal Service .

Investigators are interested in additional information regarding Pastor PRITCHETT’s activities. Anyone with information regarding the investigation can call Oregon State Police Northern Command Center dispatch at (800) 452-7888.

In the following press release from Atlanta, GA the United States Department of Justice announced that WAYNE SHERROD MILTON, 32, of Stone Mountain, GA, was sentenced today to over 20 years in prison by United States District Judge Charles A. Pannell, Jr. on charges of escape from federal prison, conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud, grant fraud and aggravated assault on a Deputy US Marshal.

United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said, “This defendant is a dangerous con man and he deserves to be locked up for many years. This case is aggravated by many factors, including the continued mortgage fraud committed by a defendant already serving a mortgage fraud sentence, his escape from federal custody to commit additional crimes, and his aggravated assault on the Deputy US Marshal trying to arrest him. Also disturbing is the fact that this defendant, who pretended to hold a Bachelors of Theology and a Doctorate of Divinity from Georgia universities and pastored several churches, preyed upon those churches and other faith-based organizations in seven states by fraudulently collecting fees they could not afford to loose.”

MILTON was sentenced to serve 20 years and one month in federal prison followed by 3 years of supervised release and ordered to pay $319,856 in restitution. MILTON pleaded guilty to these charges on October 21, 2005. According to United States Attorney Nahmias and the information presented in court:

MILTON unlawfully left the federal facility where he was serving time for mortgage fraud to attempt other crimes, including over $20 million in new mortgage fraud involving dozens of residential properties and a church. While a federal fugitive, MILTON also traveled around Georgia and to other states to defraud churches and other faith-based organizations in Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Connecticut, and Illinois by promising to deliver over $200 million in grant funding in exchange for “administrative fees.” MILTON “delivered” a number of $25 million counterfeit cashiers checks, while using the money collected from the charitable organizations for personal use including travel with his girlfriend to attend the Stella Awards in California. When located by the US Marshal Service in Pelham, GA, MILTON tried to run over a Deputy U.S. Marshal with his car while fleeing at speeds up to 100 mph through downtown Pelham, around farmyards, down dirt roads and across a cotton field where he was finally apprehended.

This case was investigated by a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Gale McKenzie prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact David E. Nahmias (pronounced NAH-me-us), United States Attorney or William L. McKinnon, Chief, Economic Crime and Cybercrime, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney’s Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan/ .

Covington, KY - Frances E. Catron, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Larry R. Willis, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Cleve Daniels, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, jointly announced today that LARRY J. DAVIS, age 58, of Cold Spring, Kentucky, was sentenced in United States District Court, Covington Division. Click here for a copy of the indictment.

Yahoo Finance reports that Terrell L. Harris, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee and James M. Cavanaugh, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Nashville Field Division, announced that the federal jury returned a verdict of guilty, yesterday, as to all Counts of the Indictment in United States v. Gerald Rayborn. Rayborn, a 59-year old male, was charged with Conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering, and in addition two counts of mail fraud, and one count of money laundering. Gerald Rayborn is the pastor of the New Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church located on Horn Lake Road in Memphis, Tennessee.

Click here for the Court Case Docket Report

The Indictment described that Rayborn conspired with Larry Bullock, a Certified Public Accountant, to submit fraudulent tax returns to a mortgage company to obtain a mortgage loan. In a separate trial, on June 8, 2005, Bullock was convicted by a federal jury of the same charges except he was not charged with the one count of money laundering.

Honorable J. Daniel Breen, U.S. District Judge, presided over both trials, Rayborn and Bullock. Rayborn’s trial commenced on Monday, July 11, 2005. Rayborn will be sentenced on October 14, 2005. He faces a possible sentence of 65 years of imprisonment.

The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant United States Attorneys, Kevin P. Whitmore and Cam Jones, were the prosecutors assigned to the case.

Update on Monday, July 2, 2007 at 10:01AM by The Editor - Ian Shuter

On July 2nd, 2007 an appeal against the conviction of Ryaborn was rejected by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Rayborn was convicted two years ago of lying about his income on a loan application for a $500,000 house. He was convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering while buying the house in 2002.

The appellate court upheld the conviction, rejecting arguments that trial jurors got inaccurate legal instructions from the judge. Please click here to read the Court’s Opinion.

COVINGTON - The Rev. Larry Davis used the former parsonage of the church he is charged with stealing from to post bond Friday. After Davis pleaded not guilty Friday to stealing more than $700,000 from First Baptist Church of Cold Spring, he told U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Gregory Wehrman he had $20,000 equity in the home at 970 Pooles Creek Road. The church trustees sold the parsonage, less than a mile from the church, on Feb. 16 to Davis and his wife, Connie, for $75,000, according to county records.

The indictment against Davis says that, contrary to First Baptist Church’s loan contract with Fifth Third Bank, Davis drew down hundreds of thousands of dollars for his personal use from building-fund accounts and others that he set up - and even made bank transfers at racetracks, hotels and casinos.

The church trustees had authorized a $3.5 million construction loan but, according to the indictment, Davis submitted forged documents claiming that the church authorized a loan of $4 million because of construction “cost overruns.”

Even as his joint “income” steadily rose into the hundreds of thousands of dollars from 2000 through 2003, the indictment states he either grossly underreported income or did not file an IRS return at all.

Dateline Alabama - April 02, 2005

US DOJ Press Release

A city Baptist church pastor and two other men face federal charges of running an alleged real estate fraud ring that duped lenders and homebuyers out of $1.5 million.

The Rev. Paul J. Starnes, 39, leader of Morning Star Church, was arrested by federal agents Friday. Starnes, Marc Brown, 45, and David McCoy, 42, all of Springfield, were indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges of wire fraud and money-laundering conspiracy.

The indictment, unsealed Friday, alleged Starnes formerly owned Trinity Mortgage Brokerage Inc. and was a partner in Trinity Land Co., which purchased and sold properties in the Springfield area. Brown and McCoy were brokers at the mortgage company, according to the indictment.

The trio is accused of “land-flipping,” a practice that typically involves buying depressed properties, paying off appraisers to inflate their values, recruiting poor, first-time buyers and drafting phony financial documents to obtain mortgages. While people involved in the deals see a profit, the new homeowners often default on the mortgages.

According to the indictment, the buyers were promised money back at the closings, or repairs on the homes that never happened. The men were released on bail Friday and are scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court next week. None had a lawyer present.

Prosecutors said all three men used Albert Innarelli as their attorney to sign off on documents critical to the alleged scams.

Update on Thursday, July 6, 2006 at 04:13PM by The Editor - Ian Shuter

On June 30, 2006 U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor, sentenced Starnes to a 36-month prison sentence and five years probation after hearing Assistant U.S. Attorney William M. Welch II argue that the minister targeted four of his own parishioners at the Morning Star Church in a scam that cost homeowners and banks more than $600,000. Ponsor also ordered Starnes to repay $137,000 to two banks defrauded by the scheme.

Update on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 06:56PM by The Editor - Ian Shuter

On July 12, 2006 David McCoy was sentenced to 3 years and 10 months imprisonment for his part in this scheme.

Click here to read the full article in The Republican.

Broward County Sheriff’s Office Press Release - March 16, 2005

Broward Sheriff’s Office economic crime detectives, along with state investigators, are crediting local media coverage with helping to locate more victims in the case of a Sunrise woman arrested in August on real estate fraud charges. So far, a total of 21 individuals have come forward claiming to have been victimized by the suspect.

According to detectives, 58-year-old Vivia Palmer continued to show unwitting clients properties throughout Broward County that were supposedly in foreclosure, even after voluntarily surrendering her license in December of 2001 amid a state probe of her practices. Palmer is also accused of offering potential clients brokerage services for a fee. The 21 victims would in turn make verbal offers on the homes and give Palmer a deposit.

The suspect never submitted a sales contract or tendered the offers to the actual homeowners. Even more disturbing, investigators learned the homes that Palmer showed were not in foreclosure or listed for sale but instead selected randomly by her as part of her scheme to defraud the victims.

The suspect placed all the deposits into her personal bank account. The total loss to the 21 known victims is approximately $200,000.

At the time of her arrest, Palmer was on probation for grand theft following a January 2004 arrest by the Sunrise Police Department. In July 2004, Palmer was once again arrested and charged with grand theft by BSO as part of an elderly exploitation case. Palmer surrendered to BSO on these latest charges on September 10, 2004 and is currently in BSO custody.

Anyone who may have been victimized by Palmer or has further information about this case is asked to contact BSO Det. John Murray at (954) 321-4252.

Read the original Broward County Sheriff’s Press Release here
Click here for the Florida Dept of Corrections record for Vivia Palmer

New Jersey Attorney General Press Release - March 16, 2005
Read the Indictment here

TRENTON -Attorney General Peter C. Harvey and Vaughn L. McKoy, Director, Division of Criminal Justice, announced that the Division of Criminal Justice has charged four members of an Ocean County family with operating a sophisticated criminal enterprise which illegally obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and luxury merchandise by employing various mortgage, real estate, bank fraud, and identity theft schemes. It is charged that the family members then used Atlantic City casinos to launder the illegally obtained cash.

According to Criminal Justice Director McKoy, a 28-count State Grand Jury indictment charged Antwan Issa (father), 62, Robert Issa (Antwan’s son), 41, Roger Issa (Antwan’s son), 30, and Rita Issa (Roger’s wife), 35, all formerly of 400 Carter Ave., Pt. Pleasant Beach, Ocean County, with the crimes of racketeering conspiracy (first degree), racketeering (first degree), money laundering (first degree), theft by deception (2nd degree), identity theft (2nd degree), use of personal identifying information of another (2nd degree), uttering a forged instrument (3rd degree), possession of forgery devices (3rd degree), theft by unlawful taking (3rd degree), receiving stolen property (3rd degree), forgery (4th degree), and falsifying records (4th degree). Antwan and Robert Issa are currently incarcerated in federal prison on parole violations, while Roger and Rita Issa remain in custody in the Monmouth and Ocean County jail respectively after being arrested on state charges.

The State Grand Jury indictment charges that from November, 2002 through March, 2004, the Issa family engaged in a racketeering conspiracy to accumulate wealth through various financial schemes, including mortgage and real estate fraud, bank fraud, theft by deception, and identity theft.

In part (click on the press release  for more detail of the other charges) the indictment charges that in November, 2002, Robert, Roger, and Rita Issa assumed the identity of a relative, Dolly Issa, and sold Dolly’s residential property without her knowledge. As a result of the sale, the Issa’s obtained $87,947 from the sale of the property located at 130 Tamarack Drive, Wayne, Passaic County. The indictment charges that a second real estate fraud occurred when Robert Issa posed as a financial expert, befriended a doctor under the guise of providing assistance to obtain a loan, and then used the doctor’s financial and personal information to fraudulently apply for and obtain a $450,000 mortgage purportedly to purchase a Toms River, Ocean County, residence. It is charged that a portion of the proceeds of the Toms River real estate purchase were laundered through an Atlantic City casino.