WHITE PLAINS – Six individuals and a corporation have been indicted for defrauding distressed homeowners by stealing the property deeds to Westchester homes and fraudulently obtaining $2 million in loans, District Attorney Miriam Rocah announced on Monday.
The defendants – including licensed realtors and an attorney – were also charged with evading a combined total of nearly $200,000 in state taxes.
The indictments allege the defendants targeted three residential properties facing bankruptcy or foreclosure – two in New Rochelle and one in Yonkers – valued in total at nearly $2.5 million.
Owners for two of the properties believed they were receiving mortgage assistance when they signed over to the defendants the deeds to their homes at a closing. The third property, which was in bankruptcy proceedings, was acquired in a short sale and two of the defendants allegedly moved in and occupied the home as their primary residence.
The DA identified the defendants are licensed real estate broker Marcia Campbell, 61, of New Rochelle, and her husband, a licensed real estate salesman, Fred Campbell, 64, also of New Rochelle; licenses attorney Anthony Chilliest, 53, of New York City; Gerald Smith, 48, of Elmsford; Wayne Green, 48, of Lynbrook; Frank Palmer, 66, of the Bronx; and Campal Corporation.
All six were indicted on charges of conspiracy, two counts of grand larceny, falsifying business records, offering a false instrument for filing, three counts of criminal tax fraud, and repeated failure to file a corporate tax return.
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