5 Charged In 'Nightmare' $70M Mortgage Scheme (Maryland)

By BRIAN WITTE,
Associated Press Writer Brian Witte

BALTIMORE – More than 1,000 people were defrauded out of about $70 million by a group advertising the dream of homeownership in what turned out to be a nightmare Ponzi scheme, federal and Maryland officials said Monday.

Five officers for Laurel, Md.-based Metro Dream Homes company are accused of tricking homeowners into pouring money into the business with the promise that the revenue would be used to pay off their mortgages. The scheme ran from 2005 until October 2007, authorities said.
Newly confirmed Assistant U.S. Attorney General Lanny Breuer said the charges should send a message to those engaging in mortgage fraud.

"Our resolve as a group is great," he said at a news conference in Washington. "We will find you. We will prosecute you, and we're going to put you in prison."

The indictment names company founder Andrew Hamilton Williams Jr., 58, of Hollywood, Fla.; financial officer Michael Anthony Hickson, 46, of Commack, N.Y.; president Isaac Jerome Smith, 46, of Spotsylvania, Va.; and vice president Alvita Karen Gunn, 31, of Hanover, Md. They had 48 hours to turn themselves in.

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