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Prosecutors say the first line of defense against mortgage fraud is the neighborhood itself.
Last fall, a News 8 investigation revealed questionable real estate transactions in the Hills Creek neighborhood of McKinney. Yesterday, a Collin County grand jury indicted three men for allegedly lying on deeds on three different homes in the neighborhood.
On Hills Creek in McKinney, a house went from $315,000 to a sale price of $625,000 in four years.
Other Hills Creek houses sold for $715,000 and $600,000 - all deals with selling prices and appraisals too good to be true.
Jocelyn Sapp called to tell us questionable deals in the neighborhood were worse On her computer she tracked dozens of fishy deals.
"As I followed the leads, I found 36 properties over three counties and you're talking in excess of $14 million."
Then she contacted Assistant Collin County District Attorney Chris Milner.
Now the Collin County Grand Jury has indicted three men for lying on deeds to homes on Hills Creek. Not one lives in the neighborhood. All allegedly told their mortgage lenders they were.
As those cases go to court, Sapp says there are more that may need to be prosecuted.
"The big deal is you and I are always the ones that get hurt," she said.
It may be a year before a mortgage company discovers a transaction is fraudulent but the neighborhood generally catches on long before. That's why prosecutors say the first line of defense against mortgage fraud is really the neighborhood itself.
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