BOSTON – May 15, 2013 – (RealEstateRama) — A Dorchester man was sentenced yesterday for operating a mortgage fraud scheme to sell his own home and to buy other residential properties.
Peterson Cherimond, 36, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole to 87 months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release and ordered to pay $2.2 million in restitution to six mortgage lender victims. In July 2012, Cherimond pleaded guilty to nine counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. In October 2012, he pleaded guilty to four additional counts of wire fraud, seven counts of identity fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
Cherimond recruited co-defendants Judy Bonas and Allison Gates to use stolen identities for the purpose of obtaining fraudulent mortgage loans aggregating more than $3.8 million for seven properties in Brockton, Mattapan, Halifax and Worcester. Cherimond provided Bonas and Gates with bogus identification documents and paid them $1,500 to $3,000 per property to pose as the purported buyers at mortgage loan closings in order to obtain the fraudulent loan proceeds for Cherimond and others.
Bonas pleaded guilty and was sentenced in February 2013 to six months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release. Gates pleaded guilty and was sentenced in March 2013 to six months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz, Kevin Niland, Inspector in Charge for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston, made the announcement today.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Victor A. Wild of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit and Brian Perez-Daple of Ortiz’s Civil Division.
