Press Release
EXTRADITED MORTGAGE FRAUD DEFENDANT PLEADS GUILTY AND IS SENTENCED IN OPERATION WHOSE HOUSE
August 25, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Michael K. Fithen, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service, Miami Field Office, Henry Gutierrez, Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Donald B. Saxon, Commissioner, Florida Department of Financial Regulation, and Amos Rojas, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Miami Regional Operations Center, announced that defendant Delroy Patterson, 47, formerly of Lauderhill, FL, pled guilty and was sentenced this morning before U.S. District Court Judge William P. Dimitrouleas to one count of aggravated identity theft.
Patterson was sentenced immediately following his guilty plea to 24 months in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release. Delroy Patterson was extradited on July 14, 2008 from Kingston, Jamaica, to face federal charges in Florida.
On November 7, 2006, Delroy Patterson was indicted, along with 10 others, for his role in connection with Operation Whose House, a large-scale mortgage fraud investigation and prosecution. To date, 9 defendants in Operation Whose House have been convicted by guilty pleas. All have been sentenced. The last remaining defendant, Yvette Scott Patterson, a mortgage broker, is awaiting extradition proceedings in Jamaica, scheduled for September 5, 2008.
According to the Indictment and statements made in open court during the various guilty pleas, the defendants conspired to make false loan applications, false employment verification forms, false salary statements, and inflated bank account statements for submission to various mortgage lenders. The defendants also used and caused others to use false or stolen Florida driver’s licenses, identification cards, and social security numbers as their personal identification to purchase properties in the names of the individuals whose identification documents had been stolen. The evidence showed that the defendants submitted more than 30 fraudulent loans to lenders around the country on properties located in Broward County.
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the State of Florida Office of Financial Regulation, the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jeffrey Kay and Jennifer Keene of the Fort Lauderdale Office.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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