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Seffner Man Accused In Mortgage Fraud Scheme
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Published: September 24, 2008
Michael Fetterhoff
TAMPA - A Seffner man was arrested today in connection to a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme that victimized dozens of people since 2004, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.
Michael Thomas Fetterhoff, 37, of 205 Kingsway Road, Seffner, has been charged with grand theft of more than $100,000.
Fetterhoff worked in sales for Advanced Mortgage Solutions, a mortgage broker company associated with other home improvement businesses that convinced mostly minority customers in poor areas of Florida to take out home loans, FDLE spokeswoman Trena Reddick said.
Those involved in the scheme diverted money into personal bank accounts, and the victims were left with large home loans and little, if any, home improvements, authorities said.
A multiagency investigation that focused on New York-based Argent Mortgage Co. began in 2004 when homeowners filed complaints about construction work that was not completed.
Orson Benn, a former Argent executive, and multiple co-defendants in the case were sentenced to 18 years in prison on Sept. 5. The enterprise submitted nearly 130 bogus loan applications made in Hillsborough, Lee, Pinellas and Polk counties to Argent, the state attorney general's office said.
Advanced Mortgage Solutions brokered the home improvement loans in Hillsborough.
"We've made multiple arrests," Reddick said. "We're still working on these cases and we're going to make more arrests in the future."
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