U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar has sentenced Bonnie Kathleen Kreamer, a/k/a Bonnie Meehan of Riva, Md. to 51 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme that resulted in losses of more than $4.8 million. Judge Bredar also ordered Kreamer to pay restitution of $2,499,048 to the victims and to forfeit $4.8 million.
The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Special Agent in Charge Brian Murphy of the United States Secret Service Baltimore Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Michael P. Tompkins, Washington Field Office, U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General; Howard County Police Chief William McMahon; and Howard County State’s Attorney Dario Broccolino.
According to her plea agreement, in 2002, Kreamer’s Maryland license to issue title insurance policies was revoked after she was convicted of theft for fraudulently endorsing checks at a title attorney’s office where she worked. Despite her conviction, from 2007 until January 2010, Kreamer worked at Sanford Title Services LLC located in Columbia, Md. and had significant day-to-day responsibility for the operation of Sanford Title. From June 2008 to January 2010, Kreamer and co-conspirators Niesha Williams, Rhonda Scott, Emeka Udeze, and Demetrius Peete arranged various aspects of real estate transactions so they could siphon profits out of the transaction for themselves. They used many fraudulent techniques to further the conspiracy, including short sales in which the property was sold for a higher price than was represented to the lien holder and the seller; sales of properties not owned by the seller at the time of settlement; real estate transactions in which there were multiple sales of the same property at the same time; real estate transactions in which the buyer’s financial status was misrepresented to lenders; and transactions in which the seller and/or buyer were shown different settlement statements and the conspirators used the difference between the figures in the two statements to enrich themselves.
In addition, Kreamer admitted that she personally facilitated deals between her co-conspirators, prepared false settlement statements, improperly disbursed funds contrary to the settlement and lender approved disbursements sheets, failed to pay off mortgage loans in accordance with the settlement documents, directed funds to entities created by herself and her co-conspirators, received proceeds of fraudulent transactions, and improperly issued title insurance policies.
Kreamer admitted that the scheme involved at least 30 victims, including lenders, sellers, and buyers of real estate; a title insurance company; and lien holders. She further agreed that her offense involved sophisticated means and her abuse of a position of trust at Sanford Title. The reasonably foreseeable loss associated with Kreamer’s conduct is at least $4.8 million.
Niesha Williams of Fort Washington, Md.; Rhonda Scott of Oxon Hill, Md.; Demetrius Peete of Manassas, Va. each previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the fraud and are scheduled to be sentenced oin May. Gregory Green of Waldorf, Md., also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $404,596. A fifth conspirator, Emeka Udeze of Bowie, Md., also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
