Mortgage Broker Gets 3 Years For Illegally Pocketing $16K By Filing Phony Mechanics Lien On Home Shortly Before Title Closing

In Jacksonville, Florida, The Florida Times Union reports:

• A Jacksonville mortgage broker faces three years in prison for pocketing thousands of dollars at a real estate closing by pretending she did home repairs. Katina Mickens, 30, was sentenced [...] for grand theft, filing a false construction lien claim and acting as an unlicensed real estate agent at a 2005 home sale where she arranged the mortgage.

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• The day before the house went to closing, Mickens filed a document called a claim of lien. Under a fictitious name, J&J Properties, Mickens reported she had done work on the house and was owed $16,000. That represented about 18 percent of the $85,000 mortgage on the home, putting an unnecessary added burden on the buyer, [Assistant State Attorney Stephen] Siegel said.(1)

Source: Mortgage broker faces 3 years on theft charges (4th story from the top).

Go here for other posts on suspected mechanics lien scams.

(1) Reportedly, J&J Properties filed lien claims at six Jacksonville homes in 2004 and 2005, claiming to be owed a total of $117,835. Former owners of five of those properties said they never hired Mickens or J&J to do any repairs, and none was done, according to the story. A hearing is scheduled in July about other charges involving some of those homes, Siegel said. MechanicLienScamTheta