Tampa man sentenced to 26 years in prison for foreclosure fraud (short sale, renting)

[Tampaite]

Link: Tampa man sentenced to 26 years in prison for foreclosure fraud | Tampa Bay Times

I have no sympathy for this man who committed fraud but 26 years..c'mon

How many people have committed financial fraud from our own Gov. Rick Scott are scott-free?

Scott resigned as Chief Executive of Columbia/HCA in 1997 amid a controversy over the company's business and Medicare billing practices; the company ultimately admitted to fourteen felonies and agreed to pay the federal government over $600 million; Scott was not implicated

[bentlebee]

What a loser...I'm glad he is not longer licensed and he will have enough time to think about his short term winnings!

[gulfer]

Good! Jail! But I have to agree with Tampaite, 26 years? People are getting less time for more severe crimes.

[soundsgoodtome]

Professional scam artists should get maximum time in jail/prison. All they care about is themselves and stealing money from you.

[Tampaite]

Originally Posted by soundsgoodtome

Professional scam artists should get maximum time in jail/prison. All they care about is themselves and stealing money from you.

I think you have no idea that you'll be working all your life to subsidze his lifestyle in prison for the next 26 years and don't complain when taxes and everything else goes up to support them!

What's required is reform, reform and reform. If you put someone in 26 yrs - what will happen after they come out 26 yrs later, they will commit more crime just to survive since no one would want to hire someone who went to prison, let alone with a 26 year gap in resume!!!

[todd00]

How about 5 years and 20 years of community service and probation. Let him clean cages at the animal shelter or work at another place that need volunteers. Its good to make an example of someone like this but rapists and murderers often serve less than 26 years.

I don't know how it is there but in my area a band of roving roofers can come around the area, ask for half down for materials, then never come back. That should be considered a premeditated theft by deception crime, but instead they call it a civil case. Same happens with contractors that take the money and don't ever finish the job. In Texas a contractor that stole these peoples money and never finished the work got 12 years in prison. He obviously used the scam on many people and wasn't afraid of a civil complaint. I do think a prison term for crimes of fraud would deter some from pulling these types of crimes.

[TXRyan23]

He'll likely serve a small fraction of that time.

[vaughanwilliams]

He's a despicable jerk and deserves jail time but his crimes pale compared to what goes on daily on Wall Street. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have political connections.

[PhotoProIP]

"One" out of how many that are still loose?
The problem is that he is now living on our tax money! So I am not sure who wins here.

Anyone renting homes that are in the process of being foreclosed/foreclosed on/or on short sale should also be arrested and prosecuted for fraud and extortion. This is just one drop in the bucket.

[soundsgoodtome]

Originally Posted by Tampaite

I think you have no idea that you'll be working all your life to subsidze his lifestyle in prison for the next 26 years and don't complain when taxes and everything else goes up to support them!

What's required is reform, reform and reform. If you put someone in 26 yrs - what will happen after they come out 26 yrs later, they will commit more crime just to survive since no one would want to hire someone who went to prison, let alone with a 26 year gap in resume!!!

Every choice made has consequences. The more heinous the act, the higher the consequence. How can you reform a thief and scam artist? Should we remove their voice box out of their throat? He will probably serve 11 years and be released. If you can't serve the time, don't commit the crime.