Sacramento judge stuns courtroom by ordering probation over prison for mortgage fraud

Source: Sacramento Bee

Five defendants convicted in a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme last May walked into a federal courtroom in Sacramento on Tuesday morning expecting to be sentenced and packed off to years in prison.

With their families in tow, they gathered in the 14th-floor courtroom of U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez facing anywhere from three to 20 years in prison for their part in a scam that prosecutors say allowed them to obtain more than $5 million in home loans during the height of the housing boom that precipitated the economic collapse of 2008.

Instead, as their attorneys stood in shock, the judge declared that none would go to prison and sentenced them to probation and months of wearing electronic ankle monitors as they return to their daily lives.

“The judge walked out and said, ‘You know, the government’s going to disagree with me, I know that, but this is wrong and none of these people should be going to prison,’ ” defense attorney Mark Reichel said afterward in an interview. “Our jaws just dropped. I was convinced they were all going to prison.”

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article44198184.html