Ohio Residents Charged in Mortgage Scheme

Lavon Ivy, 36, and her parents, John Ivy, 70, and Caroline Ivy, 64, all of Orange Village, Ohio, deceived Kenneth O’Neal, 51, Warrensville Heights, Ohio, when he purchased a house for $90,000 at 25349 Tyron Road, Oakwood Village, Ohio . Although a victim of this deception, O’Neal falsified his application that inflated his income and bank accounts and signed a document falsely indicating that he made a $42,000 down payment. The mortgage broker, M & S Investment, of Akron, Ohio, and its loan officer, Phillip Stevens, 52, of Akron, Ohio, fraudulently processed the loan. The Ivy family, O’Neal, Stevens, and his company have been indicted.

After O’Neal signed the purchase agreement, he contacted Lavon, an unlicensed mortgage broker, to close the deal. Lavon fraudulently substituted O’Neal’s purchase agreement for one with a purchase price of $165,000 to enable her to get a larger loan. She helped to obtain a $132,000 loan from New Century Mortgage Company in Columbus, Ohio. In addition, she acted as the appraiser and submitted a false property appraisal, as well as assisted in submitting a false loan application and a fraudulent down payment scheme.

O’Neal signed a closing document stating that he paid $42,000 to cover the difference between the false $165,000 purchase agreement and the $132,000 loan. But that payment was never made because Lavon Ivy deceived the lender into believing the fake $42,000 down payment was made, when it was not.

Finally, Lavon arranged for her parents and their repair contracting company, PTOT Enterprise, of Pepper Pike, Ohio, to receive $25,581.48 for rehab work on O’Neal’s house that was never completed. O’Neal has not been able to move into his house because existing code violations, which were supposed to be fixed by PTOT, were never rectified. O’Neal contacted Beachwood, Ohio Police Department, and a detective uncovered this series of scams during his investigation. The house is now in foreclosure.

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