In the past two weeks, federal prosecutors have charged at least eight real estate professionals with some type of mortgage fraud in Duval and St. Johns counties.
One already has pleaded guilty and another is scheduled to Monday. U.S. Attorney A. Brian Albritton said there are dozens more people under investigation who he expects to be indicted in the coming weeks.
Through a spearheaded effort of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office dubbed, “Mortgage Fraud Surge,” investigations that typically take years have been accelerated to 10 months in Jacksonville, Orlando and the Gulf Coast.
Real estate is so important to the economy of Florida. Unfortunately it’s earned the moniker ‘Ponzi state,’” Albritton said. He said fraud was pervasive in Florida’s real estate boom but wasn’t really discovered until the bottom fell out.
Those charged the past two weeks include:
• Sharon Keller Baker, office manager of a Jacksonville title services company.
• Joseph Cirlot, a former mortgage broker in St. Johns County.
• Jennifer Rosemarie Genus of Jacksonville, employee of an unnamed company that sold property.
• Donna Nelson Gurlides, a Jacksonville real estate agent.
• Timothy Lee Miller of Jacksonville, a production manager for a mortgage company.
• Christopher Reid, a St. Johns County mortgage broker.
• Barry Westergom, a Jacksonville appraiser who pleaded guilty Oct. 8.
• Winslow Ballenger Wheeler, a St. Johns County mortgage broker.
The number of defendants could be higher because other indictments may have been sealed pending arrest. Read more