Edward McGee, 74, of Dayton, his son Kenneth McGee, 49, of Dayton, Robert Mitchell, 42, of Vandalia, and Kamal Gregory, 34, of Centerville, were sentenced today in federal court in Cincinnati for their roles in a phony mortgage closing scam that netted over $7,000,000 in loans and other items.
Edward McGee, having pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering on May 12, 2009, was sentenced to three years’ probation and a fine of $140,000. Kenneth McGee, who pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, also on May 12, 2009, was sentenced to 32 months in prison and a $12,500 fine, the same charges and sentence as Mitchell, who pled guilty on March 11, 2009. Gregory, who pled guilty to the same charges as Kenneth McGee and Mitchell on April 14, 2009, was sentenced to only 10 months in prison along with the $12,500 fine.
The four Dayton-area men join co-conspirators Julian Hickman, 32, formerly of Centerville (now living in East Cleveland), who pled guilty to two counts of conspiracy and three counts of willful failure to file income tax returns on December 15, 2008 and was sentenced to 33 months in prison on December 10, 2009, and Jessica Zbacnik, 42, of Mason, who pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering on July 29, 2009, and was sentenced to 30 months in prison on December 3, 2009.
The scam the six operated between 2002 and 2008 involved using the mortgage and insurance businesses they own and operated to lure people into buying residential properties at prices far above the market value in order to obtain the excess mortgage loans from the sale of these properties. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Carter Stewart stated that 63 investors and 210 residential properties were involved in the scam, and that owners of more than 90% of the properties were foreclosed against.
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