Charley
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- Feb 18, 2005
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Seems that about anyone must be able to do it. These folks are doing it from a prison cell. Really hard to believe that lenders can be this stupid in letting the money go, isn't it?
Steal of a deal
Houses bought at inflated prices. Millions in loan proceeds allegedly pocketed. All ending in foreclosure. In Colorado, it's one part of a nation-leading problem.
On an autumn day two years ago, Colorado issued a warrant to arrest Taiwan Lee, a state prisoner who had vanished on parole.
He hadn't gone far. While police looked for him, he bought three houses at inflated prices in Arapahoe County with the help of lenders who put up the entire $1.9 million.
After he was caught and jailed, he managed to buy two more. Until the foreclosures commenced, Lee owned five villas in an affluent gated community while living behind prison bars 150 miles away.
The cast of characters in this foreclosure tale includes drug dealers who went straight from prison to the home-acquisition business, a developer with ties to an international Christian group, a state-licensed real estate broker who saw nothing peculiar and an appraiser who has disappeared.
Taiwan Lee is among a group of former inmates and others accused of buying 17 homes for inflated prices and taking $2.1 million from excess loan proceeds.
<snip>
Lee was 23 years old when Colorado paroled him in July 2004 on drug and escape charges. He allegedly vanished while on parole three months later, was caught that December and has been in custody ever since, prison records show.
On Feb. 17, 2005, when Lee bought 14001 E. Whitaker Drive from DeNeui, he had been back in prison for seven weeks, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Real estate records show that was the fifth villa Lee bought at inflated prices after Colorado issued a warrant to arrest him. He bought one in October 2004 and three more in the next three months. Five lenders supplied 100 percent loans totaling $3.1 million.
On the day Lee bought his fifth villa, another fugitive bought her third in four weeks in the same neighborhood. DeNeui sold 14034 E. Whitaker that day to Cindy Ingram, also wanted for violating parole on drug charges. She borrowed $1.8 million for those homes.
Talita James, a convicted cocaine dealer, bought two villas across the street from each other in one day for $1.1 million, promising to occupy them both. Her brother Torrence James and Ervin Camack, both released from federal prisons in Colorado, each bought another villa.
Steal of a deal
Houses bought at inflated prices. Millions in loan proceeds allegedly pocketed. All ending in foreclosure. In Colorado, it's one part of a nation-leading problem.
On an autumn day two years ago, Colorado issued a warrant to arrest Taiwan Lee, a state prisoner who had vanished on parole.
He hadn't gone far. While police looked for him, he bought three houses at inflated prices in Arapahoe County with the help of lenders who put up the entire $1.9 million.
After he was caught and jailed, he managed to buy two more. Until the foreclosures commenced, Lee owned five villas in an affluent gated community while living behind prison bars 150 miles away.
The cast of characters in this foreclosure tale includes drug dealers who went straight from prison to the home-acquisition business, a developer with ties to an international Christian group, a state-licensed real estate broker who saw nothing peculiar and an appraiser who has disappeared.
Taiwan Lee is among a group of former inmates and others accused of buying 17 homes for inflated prices and taking $2.1 million from excess loan proceeds.
<snip>
Lee was 23 years old when Colorado paroled him in July 2004 on drug and escape charges. He allegedly vanished while on parole three months later, was caught that December and has been in custody ever since, prison records show.
On Feb. 17, 2005, when Lee bought 14001 E. Whitaker Drive from DeNeui, he had been back in prison for seven weeks, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Real estate records show that was the fifth villa Lee bought at inflated prices after Colorado issued a warrant to arrest him. He bought one in October 2004 and three more in the next three months. Five lenders supplied 100 percent loans totaling $3.1 million.
On the day Lee bought his fifth villa, another fugitive bought her third in four weeks in the same neighborhood. DeNeui sold 14034 E. Whitaker that day to Cindy Ingram, also wanted for violating parole on drug charges. She borrowed $1.8 million for those homes.
Talita James, a convicted cocaine dealer, bought two villas across the street from each other in one day for $1.1 million, promising to occupy them both. Her brother Torrence James and Ervin Camack, both released from federal prisons in Colorado, each bought another villa.
