Richard Woods, 51, Kingston, Pennsylvania was charged in an indictment returned by a Pennsylvania federal grand jury on March 20, 2007, with one charge of mail fraud related to making false and fraudulent mortgage and loan appraisals during a four-year time period. It is alleged that he used the mail to further a scheme in which false real estate appraisals were used to qualify customers for inflated mortgages.
The indictment states that Woods provided false real estate appraisals to Four Star Mortgage Services, First Advantage Financial Corporation, and other companies during 1999-2003.
If convicted of the mail fraud charge, Woods faces a possible maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, a fine of up to $1 million, a term of supervised release of up to five years, and a $100 special assessment.
Rachel Dollar, the editor of Mortgage Fraud Blog is an attorney and Certified Mortgage Banker who handles litigation for lending institutions and secondary market investors.