TRENTON
-Attorney General Peter C. Harvey and
Vaughn L. McKoy, Director, Division of
Criminal Justice, announced that a former
Somerset County-based mortgage broker
has been sentenced to five years in state
prison and ordered to pay nearly $200,000
in restitution after pleading guilty to
stealing mortgage funds which were to
be used to pay down home buyer mortgages.
According to Criminal Justice Director
McKoy, Jason Goddard, 32, 153 Broad St.,
Summit, Union County, was sentenced on
Sept. 24 by Somerset County Superior Court
Judge Edward M. Coleman to five years
in state prison and ordered to pay $194,796
in restitution to four New Jersey banks,
mortgage institutions and a related business.
Goddard, remanded to the custody of the
New Jersey Department of Corrections,
pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal
conspiracy on April 16 before Judge Coleman.
Director McKoy noted that Goddard, was
charged via a Jan. 21, 2004 State Grand
Jury indictment obtained by the Division
of Criminal Justice - Financial Crimes
Bureau. The indictment charged Goddard
and co-defendant Isaac Briggs, 32, 466
Highland Ave. (last known address), Orange,
Essex County, with conspiracy, theft by
deception, and money laundering.
Briggs entered a guilty on June 10 to
a charge of money laundering and is scheduled
to be sentenced on Oct. 20.
The State Grand Jury indictment charged
that between June 1, 2002 and Feb. 28,
2003, Goddard, a former Somerset County-based
mortgage broker, and Briggs, formerly
employed at PrimCorp Financial, located
at 228 Kingsberry Drive, Somerset, Somerset
County, acted as mortgage brokers for
the sale of two Essex County residential
properties located at 25 Linden St. in
E. Orange and at 280-84 Orange Ave. in
Irvington.
The indictment charged that on June 25,
2002, the 25 Linden Street property was
sold to an interested buyer. Goddard and
Briggs arranged for a $153,000 mortgage.
The real estate closing was handled by
Milton Malkin, Esq. (now deceased) who
wrote a $100,000 trust account check to
the bank holding the seller’s mortgage.
Instead of paying off the existing mortgage,
the indictment charged that Goddard and
Briggs cashed the $100,000 check and kept
the money.
A second theft count in the indictment
charged that on Dec. 20, 2002, Goddard
and Briggs undertook and completed a similar
fraud involving the 280-84 Orange Ave.
property. It was charged that while a
contract to purchase the property never
materialized, Goddard and Briggs fraudulently
secured a mortgage for the property in
the name of the potential buyer and kept
$154,405 in proceeds.
“The
Division of Criminal Justice obtained
guilty pleas from both defendants who
admitted that they diverted tens-of-thousands
of dollars in monies intended to pay-off
prior mortgages on two Essex County residential
properties and then laundered the money
through bank accounts under their control,”
McKoy said. “The Division of Criminal
Justice is targeting unscrupulous individuals
in the mortgage industry who endeavor
to win the trust of home buyers only to
steal their money and their dream of home
ownership.”
The prosecution was coordinated by Deputy
Attorney General Eric Schweiker and Francine
Ehrenberg assigned to the Division of
Criminal Justice - Major Financial Crimes
Bureau. The investigation was conducted
by State Investigator Raymond Gardner.
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