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Mortgage Scam Artist Who Helped Authorities Gets Prison

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 11, 2008

TAMPA – With federal authorities on his tail for a $3.8 million mortgage fraud in Chicago, Luis Uribe took his show on the road.

He joined another -- even bigger -- mortgage fraud operation in the Tampa area in 2006, tricking lenders into funding more than 32 fraudulently obtained loans for more than $6 million.

After he was caught the second time, he started talking.

He pleaded guilty to federal charges in both states and began helping investigators, giving information about his co-defendants and the schemes.

This morning, a federal judge here sentenced the 28-year-old Apollo Beach man to 8 1/2 years in federal prison and five years of probation for wire fraud and identity theft. That is on top of a 34-month sentence he received in Chicago.

"It was a fraud from beginning to end, committed while he was under investigation in Chicago," defense attorney Gregory Adamski told U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday.

"This is an example of a cancer that metastasized from the Northern District of Illinois to the Middle District of Florida," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Palermo, who noted that since Uribe's arrest in Florida, he has "tried to do the right thing." He testified against his co-defendants in Illinois and has debriefed investigators in Florida.

"We have a greater understanding today of the enormity of the problem with respect to this particular group of individuals."

Palermo said he may return to court to seek a reduction in Uribe's sentence, depending on how his cooperation here pans out.

Before he was sentenced, Uribe apologized to the victims and to his family. "I've been incarcerated nine months," he said. "I'm not the same person as when I came in." He said his wife divorced him as a result of this. "I ask the court to consider I have a responsibility as a father. … I can only ask the court to be as lenient as possible."

He said he hopes to enroll in spiritual and educational programs in prison. "I want to live a good life that's free of shame and crime," he said.

Merryday paraphrased his interpretation of the defendant's plea for lenience: "Judge, don't let the blood in your veins run as cold as mine was the day I committed this offense." The judge added, "I guess I would ask the same favor if I was in your shoes."

A co-defendant, Andrea Batronie, 31, of Land O' Lakes, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard Lazara in March to 2 1/2 years in prison.

Uribe was a licensed mortgage broker involved in Bay General Contracting Services. The company obtained dozens of fraudulent loans July 2006 through but never built anything.

Batronie was a license title agent. The conspirators fraudulently submitted mortgage applications under false pretenses, obtaining and disbursing the proceeds of those loans, including directing portions of the proceeds to bank accounts in their control.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

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