Miller Place man gets 4 years in loan scam

A Miller Place man was sentenced yesterday to 51 months in prison for his role in a $9-million mortgage fraud scheme, prosecutors said.

Frederick Warren, 38, also was ordered to forfeit nearly $2 million, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a news release. Warren pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, according to the release.

A 46-year-old Mississippi woman, Denise Parks, was sentenced to time served and ordered to forfeit nearly $2.6 million after pleading guilty in April to the same charges, prosecutors said.

The pair were sentenced in Manhattan by U.S. District Judge Naomi Buchwald.

The two loan officers prepared bogus mortgage applications to various lenders as part of a 2005-07 scam that used "straw identities" to obtain $9 million in loans for the purchase of dozens of homes on Long Island and in the metro area, prosecutors said. Most of the loans rapidly went into default.

The indictment said Warren processed the loans through Reliable Capital Corp. in Hempstead; Atlas Home Equities in Manhattan and on Long Island; and Alliance Mortgage Banking Corp. The scam "left banks holding the bag for bogus mortgages that should never have been issued," Bharara said. Eleven defendants in the case have pleaded guilty; criminal charges are pending against the 12th.