F. Jeffrey Miller faces new indictment
Miller, already facing 60 counts from a $25 million bank fraud indictment in May, was charged by a federal grand jury with 12 new counts. The grand jury also indicted three others who were not covered by the May charges. The previous indictment focused on Miller’s home building and finance companies, calling them a “fraudulent real estate machine” that carried out bank fraud and money laundering.

F. Jeffrey Miller faces new indictment

Charges allege home builder tried to destroy incriminating real estate documents.

By MARK DAVIS
The Kansas City Star

Indicted area home builder F. Jeffrey Miller faces new federal charges and was being held behind bars Thursday pending a court appearance Monday afternoon.

Miller, already facing 60 counts from a $25 million bank fraud indictment in May, was charged by a federal grand jury with 12 new counts. The grand jury also indicted three others who were not covered by the May charges.

The previous indictment focused on Miller’s home building and finance companies, calling them a “fraudulent real estate machine” that carried out bank fraud and money laundering.

The new indictment claimed a conspiracy by Miller and others to destroy incriminating documents in an Overland Park office before federal agents could seize them. It said Miller and two of the new defendants attempted to intimidate the fourth after discovering that he was cooperating with the agents.

It said Miller induced cooperation from two of the co-defendants by agreeing to sell them his 45-foot Sea Ray boat dubbed "Bling Bling."

Miller was arrested Thursday morning and is being held in federal custody, though officials would not reveal where.

Miller had been free pending trial under the first indictment though he failed a drug test immediately after pleading not guilty to those charges and admitted to using cocaine.

The new indictment said Miller violated other conditions of his release that allowed him to continue his business under a court-appointed monitor.

Instead, the indictment said, Miller continued “his criminal conduct with a new conspiracy” involving three others who were indicted by the new grand jury. They are Stephen W. Vanatta, 43, and Hallie Irwin, 26, both of Lenexa, and James Sparks, 35, of Lawson, Mo. None could be reached for comment.

Each of the four defendants faces federal charges of bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, unlawful monetary transactions, destroying records in a federal investigation and criminal contempt of a court order.

Miller, Vanatta and Irvin also face one additional count of attempting to intimidate Sparks. Vanatta and Irvin had the agreement to buy Miller’s boat.

The three new co-defendants were part of Miller’s previous scheme that targeted home buyers with credit problems by promising no down payments and help finding mortgages, the new indictment said.

It said Vanatta and Irvin, along with Miller, advertised for buyers and helped prepare their applications for mortgage loans.

Their work included creating false rent histories, which the defendants called “friend letters,” to help borrowers qualify for loans they wouldn’t otherwise get.

Federal agents learned about the friend letters from an employee at the Overland Park office, Sandra Joy Harris, also known as Sam Harris. She, however, told Vanatta that she had been subpoenaed to produce the records and was going to retrieve them.

“When Harris got to the office … the files had been sanitized by the removal of incriminating evidence,” the indictment said.

It also said Vanatta induced Sparks to destroy evidence in his office.

The indictment described Sparks as a mortgage loan broker who helped prepare and submit false information to help borrowers get mortgage loans under Miller’s scheme. It said Sparks also paid “kickbacks” to Irvin on behalf of Vanatta, provided down payments to home buyers, and referred “false and inflated sales contracts” to appraisers to support inflated values on which lenders based their decisions.

Sparks, however, had begun to cooperate with federal agents, and Miller, Vanatta and Irvin discovered this on Nov. 7. They subsequently “used intimidation, threats and corrupt persuasion” to get Sparks to withhold testimony and records from the grand jury’s investigation, the indictment said.

The indictment also seeks forfeiture of $5 million, the boat "Bling Bling," another boat named "Pipe Dream," a Piper Seneca V aircraft, and a residence in Lake Ozark, Mo. It also seeks “all assets and accounts whatsoever” of Miller Enterprises, Star Land Development, Somerset Homes, Dutch Custom Homes, HCI, Innovative Designs and any other entity owned or controlled by the four defendants.

The May indictment had involved seven co-defendants with Miller.

Two women indicted in that case pleaded guilty in October to one conspiracy charge each and agreed to testify in the case.

Charges from the May indictment have been dropped against a third co-defendant, Paul Nicolace, over a conflict with the judge hearing the case. Prosecutors have said they intend to refile charges against Nicolace but so far have not.