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Do IT this week: Layering
Ex-president receives credit for cooperation
By Ed Meyer
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Tuesday, Jun 23, 2009
On Dec. 11, 2007, eight days before Summit County authorities charged 17 defendants in the Evergreen financial scandal, former Carnation Banc President Craig E. Connor laid out the inner workings of what soon would become identified as a criminal enterprise of enormous proportions.
Connor, as part of a plea bargain, spelled out how Evergreen fulfilled the dreams of hundreds of low-income mortgage customers in the Akron area.
''The whole, entire industry became: 'How do I get someone approved,' not ' . . . do they qualify?' '' Connor told Brad Gessner, head of the criminal division of the Summit County Prosecutor's Office. ''And that's the reason that 200-some [mortgage] companies have closed in the last 11 months.
''The loan reps would come in and say, 'Take the husband off [the application]; we can't use him. Just state the wife's income, and let the loan get closed.' That's how the whole, entire industry was . . . and you just
knew that wasn't going to fly.''
Connor's blockbuster interview became public for the first time Monday when his attorney, Larry Whitney, read it into the record at a sentencing hearing for Connor's early cooperation with authorities in unraveling the scandal.
As the mortgage-loan point man for Evergreen Corp. President David B. Willan, Connor, 36, was given four years in prison for engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity; and a four-year suspended prison term for aggravated theft; and was ordered to turn over all of his financial assets, more than $76,000, as restitution for a victims fund.
Minutes after the hearing ended, Connor, dressed in a dark business suit, white shirt and tie, was placed in handcuffs and leg shackles and led to the county jail.
He will be eligible for judicial release, according to the terms of his sentence, after serving six months in a state penitentiary.
In other developments, the plea bargains of three other Evergreen co-defendants were resolved:
• Daniel Mohler, 57, of Wadsworth, who sold investment securities certificates for Willan, was given four-year prison terms on each of three counts of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
Mohler's prison sentence was suspended, however, and he was placed on five years' probation, with at least six months to be served in confinement at the county's Community Based Corrections Facility.
• Amanda J. Lower, 29, a former Carnation Banc employee from Doylestown who is now unemployed, was given one year in prison for each of three counts of fraud relating to mortgage documents. She also was ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution.
Lower's prison sentence was suspended, and she was placed on probation for two years with an order to begin a monthly payment program for the restitution as soon as she finds a job.
• Angela L. Soukup, 44, of Bath Township, another Carnation employee, completed a court-ordered diversion program after paying $15,000 in restitution and attending a counseling program.
Her charges, one count of grand theft and three counts of fraud relating to mortgage documents, were dismissed. Her attorney will be permitted to move to have her record sealed.
Willan, 38, who is being held in the county jail after being convicted of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity in addition to scores of other felonies, also was scheduled to be sentenced Monday, along with co-defendant Mandie Pugh.
The attorneys for both Willan and Pugh had conflicts with unrelated trials in Medina County, and the joint sentencing hearing was rescheduled for Monday.
Prosecutors have said that Willan is facing more than 100 years in prison. Pugh apparently will be facing probation for her conviction on a single count of money laundering.
Monday's sentencing hearing was conducted by retired Common Pleas Judge James E. Murphy, who was in charge of all of the Evergreen cases by appointment.
Murphy saved his harshest words for Mohler and Connor.
Addressing Mohler first, the judge said: ''You hurt a lot of people. You were the one who talked them into keeping their money in Evergreen by [continually] raising the [interest] rates.
''I will be watching you very carefully.''
Attorney Paul Adamson told the court that Mohler has lost everything — all of his money after being forced to file for bankruptcy, his home and his health.
The scandal has taken such a physical and mental toll, Adamson said, that Mohler suffered two broken wrists in a fall while living at his mother's home and is suffering from high blood pressure, chronic pulmonary disease, anxiety and severe depression.
''He has been crushed in every way that you can be crushed, short of being sent to prison,'' Adamson said.
To Connor, Murphy said: ''You deserve 20 years [in prison], but you have, with the advice of counsel, come forward first and given enough information to complete the investigation on all the rest of the defendants in this case. And I'm taking that into consideration.''
Connor, in his remarks to the court, briefly described what he termed ''the inherent problem of the mortgage industry.''
''We were, at the time, looking at it as helping these people get a house, yet we were setting them up,'' he quickly added, ''to fail.''
Most of the remaining Evergreen cases were settled in plea bargains. Only one co-defendant, Richard J. Borodkin of Akron, was acquitted of all charges.
Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or emeyer@thebeaconjournal.com.
On Dec. 11, 2007, eight days before Summit County authorities charged 17 defendants in the Evergreen financial scandal, former Carnation Banc President Craig E. Connor laid out the inner workings of what soon would become identified as a criminal enterprise of enormous proportions.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Akron, Oh
Posted 07:48 AM, 06/23/2009
Morals and Ethics- The main problems of the mortgage industry. Some of those professional crooks allowing or routing some people into the illusion of being a home owner with the potential of getting promoted,pay raises, and the thoughts of obtaining that family dream of Home-ownership. Knowing that the potential of them losing all of their life saving,family structure and health. "Sympathy and Empathy "
Akron, , OH
Posted 08:48 AM, 06/23/2009
What ,morals and ethics--------not
Hilton Head Island, SC
Posted 09:02 AM, 06/23/2009
they didn't let anyone get away from this did they.....
Akron, OH
Posted 09:26 AM, 06/23/2009
It's refreshing to hear someone who broke the law actually ADMIT what they did and accept their punishment.
This is what happens in an industry where commissions become more important than doing the right thing for a customer.
akron, OH
Posted 09:58 AM, 06/23/2009
strange that all the critics isn't given ms.Walsh any credit for this coop.I'm not a fan or foe just like to read a balance it helps to to give one credibility.
Posted 10:19 AM, 06/23/2009
hah the punishment? How much money did they steal? and only 4 years and a little cash? hah
This is like that school teacher raping and only getting 3 years. Absurd justice system.
Richfield, OH
Posted 11:09 AM, 06/23/2009
More time than Stallworth.
my city, Oh
Posted 12:33 PM, 06/23/2009
Woah, wack! I don't think you can really compare this to the rape of a child.
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 08:40 PM, 06/23/2009
That's B.S.!! "He's been crushed", well how about the people who bought a home under the illusion they could afford it? I hope all these crooks lose their American Dream, and I'd love to hear them all say "Would you like fries with that?",although they would be the ones who put a small fry in a large box
AKRON, ohio
Posted 11:43 PM, 06/23/2009
MendenHOLE should go to jail for his B.S. recall attempt
Akron, OH
Posted 12:09 AM, 06/24/2009
He'll be out in six months.
akron, oh
Posted 07:21 AM, 06/24/2009
One down, tens of thousands too go.
Posted 10:29 AM, 06/24/2009
I personally turned down evergreens offer. The entire deal had a BAD smell. Now I am so glad I did. BUT,,,the crooks there will never serve enough time to suit me.
Tallmadge, oh
Posted 07:29 PM, 06/24/2009
SO will there be charges filed against all the purchasers who fibbed about income, employment, expenses, and the origins of their "downpayment"? Or against the politicians who legislated for more loans to less-than-creditoworthy consumers?
Is Obamanation going to bail me out, now that my neighbors' foreclosures have caused my property value to plummet below what I owe, due to the foreclosed properties being converted from owner-occupied to rentals?
Seems there should be enough charges to go around.
my city, Oh
Posted 08:22 AM, 06/25/2009
Small fish, big sea. His comments read, "that's how the whole industry was..." This was just one mortgage broker and he was more than likely just doing what the baking reps, told him to do so that they could use them to sell more loans. So Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac execs could get more money. Pyramid Scheme yes, but what about the ones at the VERY top of the pyramid?!?!?
