Evelisse Hernandez, a 40-year-old mortgage loan officer from Kissimmee, Florida, is being indicted with four counts of bank fraud and four counts of aggravated identity theft. If convicted, she faces up to 30 years in federal prison on each bank fraud count and a mandatory consecutive two years’ imprisonment on the aggravated identity theft counts. The government seeks an order of forfeiture in the amount of $130,000, representing the proceeds of the charged criminal conduct.
This case was investigated by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) — Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — Office of Inspector General and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation. It will be prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Chris Poor.
According to the indictment, Hernandez, in her capacity as a licensed mortgage loan officer, created and executed a mortgage fraud scheme targeting the financial institution where she worked. To ensure that unqualified borrowers were approved for mortgage loans, Hernandez falsified the borrower’s income through completely fabricated or inflated monthly child support payments on mortgage loan applications that she signed and certified to the financial institution’s underwriting department.
To further her scheme, Hernandez created fictitious Final Judgements of Dissolution of Marriage showing the borrowers were entitled to receive non-existent monthly child support payments.
Hernandez used the names of judges from the Circuit Court of the Ninth District of Florida and forged signatures on the fabricated Final Judgements of Dissolution of Marriage. Hernandez then created bogus Florida Department of Revenue Statements showing the party purportedly paying monthly child support payments to the borrowers and manufactured phony prepaid debit card statements showing the borrowers purportedly withdrawing the non-existent monthly child support payments.
In most cases, the borrower did not have the children listed or had never even been married. Hernandez submitted bogus paperwork to the financial institution to support false monthly income on the loan applications. Based on her misrepresentations, the financial institution approved and funded the mortgage loans.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
Hernandez has not responded to requests for a statement.
