Todd Leary walked out of Judge Fran Gulls' court today facing only a single felony count. Leary was quick to nod his head to verdict of guilty to the charge. the nod should have been viewed as mocking the Gulls on the earlier 17 felony charges against Leary. Huffingtonpost has an interesting post on the charges brought against Leary
Yep, the former Indiana basketball star and Indiana University commentator was to stand trial in August for 18 charges, but instead copped a deal to the charge of conversion or misappropriation of title insurance escrow funds. Originally, Leary was locked in with Indiana mortgage fraud king, Joseph Garretson. Garretson is facing 11.5 years in prison while Leary may simply serve 1 1/2 years on house arrest.
Leary only has to pay back $295,000 to avoid going to prison. The story is not over. Robin Hunt will soon have his day in court along with a few others. "Mortgage broker Robin Hunt was charged with six felony counts of loan broker fraud. Another mortgage broker, Lane Miller, was charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit loan broker fraud. And Buffy Sue Raptis, a former employee of State Bank and Trust, an Ohio bank with branches in Allen County, is accused of taking $1,750 in kickbacks from Garretson for referring loan closings to Fort Wayne Title. She is charged with fraud on a financial institution."
Somehow, these folks were able to enjoy a lifestyle of the rich and famous off of other folks money and the court just gave a wink and a nod and called it a day.
This sounds like tale for U.S. Attorney General Eric Holders
It looks like they blackmailed Richards and McAlexander with the fact that when Mike refinanced his house through Gaerretson Mike's own loan was paid back ( 1st mortgage ) while others lost their house.
ReplyDeletePeople are asking how could they be so dumb as to screw a deputy prosecutor. They didn't they came to him with a sweetheart deal on a new mortgage to keep the Prosecutor off their back.
If Leary would ever be caught he pays back just the fraud cases in Allen County and all criminal charges would be dropped. Leary was caught, he will pay back $300,000 to victims, the charges were dropped ( all but the new one) and he will walk.
Oh one other thing, he stole $1.23 million - he will keep the difference while his victims lose their homes.
Notice that sentencing isn't until just before the Nov election - Karen gets a free ride to another 4 years.