Legislation makes mortgage fraud a felony

Saturday, January 27, 2007

LORETTA PARK - STANDARD-EXAMINER =

Utah is ranked No.= 2 in mortgage fraud, a rating that a local legislator hopes his bill will chan= ge.

House Bill 25 = passed the House unanimously Friday and is now on its way to the Senate for consideration.

Under provisio= ns of the bill sponsored by Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clinton, mortgage fraud would beco= me a second-degree felony with a possible sentence of 1 to 15 years in the Utah State Prison.

Currently, the= state does not have any specific law outlawing mortgage fraud, Ray said. Instead prosecutors file other charges relating to mortgage fraud, he said.<= /o:p>

Ray believes t= he bill will not face much opposition in the Senate.

The only thing= that may prove a glitch is the provision for ongoing funding for one prosecutor and two investigators to the tune of $379,000 a year, he said.=

But that cost = will be offset by the savings Ut= ah consumers will see once they are no longer No. 2, Ray said.

Because of Utah's rating, mortgage loan rates are about a quarter percent higher in the state than anywhere else nationally.

Chief Criminal Deputy Attorney General Kirk Torgensen said h= aving one prosecutor and two investigators dedicated to these cases will be &qu= ot;a tremendous help."

Torgensen said that most cases have at least two people involved. Some include identification thef= t, but others are more complex.

One scheme inv= olves a person getting an appraiser to appraise a piece of property far above i= ts value and then getting a loan on that value, Torgens= en said.

Other mortgage= fraud scams involve lack of licensing, he said.

Bill: House Bi= ll 25, Mortgage Fraud

Sponsor: Paul = Ray, R-Clinton

The bill would= make mortgage fraud a second-degree felony with a possible sentence of one to = 15 years in the Utah State Prison.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald = on page A3.

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Daily Herald - Legislation makes mortgage fraud a felony