Torrence James, a former federal prisoner who became a Colorado mortgage broker, told U.S. District Court Judge Edward Nottingham that he used false information to obtain home loans for unqualified buyers. He also admitted withdrawing $300,000 from proceeds generated by fraudulent home sales.

In an agreement with prosecutors, James pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. He also told the judge "it's a possibility" he would cooperate with the government to seek leniency.

All eight of the defendants indicted to date in a multimillion- dollar fraud case have admitted guilt. Still, said Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Denver, "the investigation is continuing."

According to a 41-count indictment, James and Ronald Fontenot, a man he met in federal prison, became Colorado mortgage brokers and recruited "straw" buyers to acquire houses at inflated sales prices. They also formed companies that purportedly made home improvements.

At loan closings, the buyers borrowed 100 percent of the inflated sales prices, and the companies controlled by James and Fontenot siphoned excess loan proceeds, kicking back a portion to the buyers, the indictment alleged. They and six others were accused of taking $2.1 million on 17 house sales.

Most of those purchases were made at the Villas at Cherry Creek, a stylish gated community in Aurora overlooking Cherry Creek State Park.

One defendant, Ervin Camack, pleaded guilty last year and accepted a three- year sentence for a house purchase that enabled him to collect $125,000 at the closing.

Fontenot and five other homebuyers - Taiwan Lee, Cindy Ingram, Talita James, Glenn Puller and Nicole Puller, who also acted as a mortgage broker - also pleaded guilty to felony charges. Glenn Puller and Ingram face sentencing dates in February, the others in April.

In its 2006 series "Foreclosing on the American Dream," The Denver Post reported that Lee bought three villas while wanted for violating parole on a drug charge - and two more after he was returned to prison. Ingram also bought three villas while wanted for skipping parole on drug charges.

Last January, homeowners in the Villas at Cherry Creek urged a criminal investigation of 26 neighborhood house sales, contending all were sold at suspiciously high prices and that many sat vacant. A year later, 18 of those villas have been foreclosed on.

In a civil suit, Denver lawyer John Head accused developer Timothy Todd DeNeui, real-estate broker Jerrold Minney and appraiser Ron ald Daniel Williams of participating in the fraud scheme. None of those men has been charged with a crime.

Minney on Wednesday released a statement denying wrongdoing.

"As licensed real estate brokers in Colorado we all have fiduciary duties to our clients and don't have control over all aspects of the transactions as some may believe," Minney said in the statement. "I represented my client, the developer in this case, and my company was not involved in helping with any of the financing of the homes.

"We as brokers are prohibited from steering a borrower to any one lender and did not have control over how a buyer chooses to finance their home," Minney added. "We can only control our actions and not those of others."

When The Post's original story on the Villas of Cherry Creek was published, DeNeui denied knowing the sales were fraudulent. He couldn't be reached Wednesday.

Efforts to reach Williams for comment were unsuccessful.

Staff writer David Olinger can be reached at 303-954-1498 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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