Mortgage fraudster has lenience plea rejected

The Oregon judge who handed down a tough sentence to a mortgage broker last week has skewered another participant in a mortgage fraud scheme

The Oregon judge who handed down a tough sentence to a mortgage broker last week has skewered another participant in a mortgage fraud scheme.

Judge Ann Aiken has ignored pleas for leniency in sentencing a former Eugene real estate broker over a mortgage fraud scheme, The Register-Guard has reported. Laura Snyder, who pleaded guilty eight counts of wire fraud in a scheme that generated bad loans costing banks $260,000, asked Aiken for probation rather than prison as she is the main caregiver for her eight-year-old daughter.

But Aiken, who last week sentenced Bend mortgage broker Peter Wilkinson to 57 months for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme, handed Snyder a 21-month prison sentence, The Register-Guard reported.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Bradford, Snyder brokered loans for herself by using straw buyers and forging signatures.

In handing down the 21-month sentence, Aiken said Snyder, a licensed broker and CPA, had betrayed a position of trust.

"You knew better. You're trained," Aiken said.