Loan Mod Scammer Pleads Guilty To Ripping Off 48 Known Victims Out Of Upfront Fees, Monthly Mortgage Payments

From the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation:

• Rodney Getlan, age 45, of Owings Mills, entered a guilty plea to nine counts of mortgage fraud and faces up to 90 years in prison. Pursuant to the plea, the State is requesting 40 years with 10 years suspended and 30 years of incarceration to serve as well as restitution to all 48 known victims in the area of $400,000.
  
  Judge Ballou-Watts scheduled sentencing for December 3, 2012. Getlan was charged earlier this year with felony theft, operating as a credit service business without a license, mortgage fraud, and related charges.
  
  An investigation by the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing & Regulation’s (DLLR) Office of the Commissioner of Financial Regulation and the Baltimore County Police Department led to Getlan’s arrest in March for defrauding homeowners of considerable upfront fees for mortgage modifications and stealing their monthly mortgage payments.

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• Getlan’s 46-count charging document stated that Getlan offered loan modification services from January 2009 through January 2012. The charges specifically referred to nine separate homeowners who fell victim to Getlan’s scheme, in which he forged documents to support his claim that lenders of the homeowners had approved their loan modifications.
  
  Homeowners believed that their monthly payments were going to their lenders; however, the investigation determined that Getlan deposited those payments into his own accounts.

For the Maryland DLLR press release, see Mortgage Fraud Schemer Convicted (Getlan found guilty of defrauding Maryland homeowners).