Two Enter Pleas in Mortgage Fraud Scheme

HOUSTON - Albert Terrance Watkins, 46, of Missouri City entered a plea of guilty to committing wire fraud on Wednesday June 30. The previous day, Adrian Levale Cole, 39, entered a plea of guilty to committing wire fraud and false representation of a Social Security number arising from a $10 million mortgage fraud scheme, the United States Attorney's office reported Tuesday June 29. The pleas were entered before U.S. District Judge David Hittner.

Friendswood Police assisted in the investigation as part of a team put together by the FBI. The investigation began in 2006.

Friendswood Detective Eric Price explained the basics of the scheme. "The defendants and others would recruit people with high credit scores to apply for loans. In an attempt to obtain favorable financing, the loan applications would also contain false or inflated employment, asset and income information." Price explains that the applicants would include information regarding proposed improvements to the homes in an effort to secure more financing. These improvements would not be done, but the defendants and others involved in the scheme would divide up the monies approved by the lenders, said Price. The mortgages would not be paid and the homes would eventually end up in foreclosure.

Price reported that approximately nine Friendswood properties were part of the scheme. Once the investigation was well under way, agents from the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service also became involved.