Jensen Beach pastor, wife found guilty by jury of mortgage fraud » TCPalm.com

STUART — After three hours of deliberation Tuesday, a Martin County jury pronounced Rodney McGill and his wife, Shalonda, guilty on all nine counts of obtaining mortgages by false representation, first-degree grand theft and racketeering.

Though the McGills stood stoically as they received the verdict, emotions ran high as their daughter and several supporters began sobbing in the gallery.

After the verdict was read, Shalonda McGill turned to her young daughter in the courtroom, motioned with her chin and mouthed, “Keep your chin up.”

Shalonda McGill’s mother scuffled briefly with sheriff’s deputies when attempting to approach her daughter and kiss her goodbye as she was being led from the courtroom.

During closing arguments, greed and fraud remained the prosecution’s theme while the McGills maintained others were responsible for fraudulently obtaining just over $1 million in loans and mortgages from July through November 2006.

After five days of testimony, Chief Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Todd Weicholz told jurors the McGills retired $800,000 of debt and pocketed $248,000 in cash on four property sales in Martin and St. Lucie counties.

The state alleged the McGills, individually, and through several of their organizations, selected three women of modest income to purchase properties owned by the McGills on the promise of $50,000 in 90 days with no money down.

“The defendants misled these ladies to get them to sign a mortgage so they could dump their properties,” Weicholz said. “Through their fraud, the defendants stole $1 million from banks, paid off their debts and left these ladies with ruined credit,” Weicholz said.

During the trial, prosecutors introduced loan applications on the transactions that contained incorrect job descriptions, inflated monthly salaries, nonexistent bank accounts and forged lease agreements on behalf of the buyers.

“Rodney (McGill) was the mastermind behind the whole scam,” Weicholz said. “Don’t blame the banks. Don’t blame the government.”

However, defense attorneys sought to convince jurors that others, in fact, were to blame.

McGill’s co-counsel, Arthur Jones, told jurors it was a mistake to “characterize these buyers as innocent little sheep being led slaughter.”

The middle-aged buyers, Jones said, had prior real estate experience, failed to research the market and asked no questions when presented with the inaccurate loan applications.

“It’s way too convenient to believe that these women just came in and got led to the slaughter and then blame Rodney,” Jones said.

Defense attorneys also suggested that a loan processor at McGill’s RSM Mortgage and Investment Co. and an outside mortgage broker were responsible for changing information on the loan applications without the McGill’s knowledge or consent.

“There’s no smoking gun in this case,” Jones said. “It’s just all convenient statements made by people who are now stepping back.”

Fran Ross, representing Shalonda McGill, asked jurors why her client was being held responsible when no one involved in the transactions acted diligently.

“These ladies (buyers) didn’t care who owned the property,” Ross said. “They didn’t research the market to know that the bottom was about to fall out. And now all of a sudden it’s ‘woe is me,’ and it’s (the McGills’) fault.”

Ross told jurors everyone along the lending chain bore some responsibility during the “feeding frenzy” of Florida’s real estate market.

“It’s just another party burying their head in the sand, and now they come in and say it’s your fault because you made money,” Ross said.

After the verdict, Jones said, “I really don’t think he intended to defraud anyone. Maybe things got going a little bit fast and it got away from him. But given the time it took the jury to deliberate, it definitely was not a slam-dunk case,” he said.

“Obviously I was hoping for a different verdict given (Shalonda McGill’s) role in the case,” Ross said. “But I respect the jury’s verdict.”

Prosecutors, however, said they were gratified with the jury’s decision.

“The attorney general is very pleased with this verdict,” said Sandi Copes, public information officer for the Statewide Prosecutor’s Office. “Mortgage fraud is running rampant through our state, and this should send a strong message that you can expect more of these decisions in the future – that we’re not going to put up with it.”

The racketeering and grand theft counts each carry a 30-year maximum sentence, with a five-year maximum penalty on each mortgage fraud count.

Florida Pastor & Radio Show Host Rodney McGill Arrested for Mortgage Fraud

A Baptist church pastor and radio show host and his mortgage broker wife were arrested today on charges stemming from a State of Florida investigation into a $1 Million real estate fraud scam.

Investigators with Florida’s Dept. of Financial Services’ Division of Insurance Fraud, along with the state’s Office of Financial Regulation, say the couple — Rodney McGilland Shalonda McGill — have been enjoying expensive leased vehicles, including a Rolls-Royce, and other luxuries while sticking their so-called clients with more than $1 million in mortgage debt. The two were arrested today on charges of Racketeering, Conspiracy to Commit Racketeering, Grand Theft (2 counts), and Obtaining a Mortgage by False Representation. The McGills are now being held in the Martin County (Fla.) Jail, with bond set for each at $1.4 million. Deputies with the Martin County Sheriff’s Department arrested the pair during a routine traffic stop.

Shalonda McGill and Rodney McGill sourced clients through various programs including theYoung Millionaire’s Group, RSM Investment and Mortgage, and the New Hope Outreach Center, all of which operated out of a facility located at 2110 Arch St. in Jensen Beach, Florida. State corporation documents identify Rodney McGill as president and Shalonda McGill as vice president of the New Hope Outreach Center, which is incorporated as a nonprofit church with the McGills listed as pastors.

The investigation found that Rodney McGill, as president of the Young Millionaire’s Group, also solicited customers through a daily local radio program he hosted on WJFP 91.1 FM in Fort Pierce, FL. He told his listeners would teach teach and mentor them on how to buy and sell real estate without any out-of-pocket expense, with the goal of earning $50,000 in 90 days.

In July 2006, state investigators charge, Rodney McGillsolicited listeners of his radio show to call in and qualify, based on their credit, to become one of his “Fab 5.” program. Callers allegedly were assured that they would learn McGill’s real estate investing “cash-out technique.”

The McGills purchased real estate in Martin and St. Lucie counties (Florida) by preparing and submitting fraudulent loan applications, and then flipped the properties to Fab 5 members for huge profits. Based on the fraudulent loan applications, four mortgages were obtained in excess of the property’s actual worth, and the McGills are said to have skimmed off the profits leaving three members of the so-called Fab 5 with more than $1.115 million in mortgage payments they were unable to make.

In one case, Florida investigators charge that the McGills paid $210,000 for a home at 1000 N.E. County Line Road in Jensen Beach, FL, in June of 2006. Three months later, they sold the home for $365,000 — a 74% increase at a time when home values in Florida were plummeting. In another scam, the McGills paid $147,000 for a house at 2814 S.W. Ann Arbor Road in Port St. Lucie, FL, according to property records, in August 2006. Three months later, they sold the house at a 56% increase ($229,000).

Florida officials say all of the McGills related properties are either in or are facing foreclosure. The buyers of course all believed they were part of the Fab 5 and were learning the McGill’s real estate investing techniques.

The investigation into Shalonda McGill and Rodney McGill’s fraudulent trappings is ongoing into other real estate transactions in which the McGills were involved. Anyone with information about the McGill’s is asked to contact Detective Ted Padich, (561) 837-5635, with Florida’s Division of Insurance Fraud, or Investigator Steve Brignola, (561) 837-5233, with Florida’s Office of Financial Regulation.

Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers reported earlier this year that Rodney McGill was arrested in April on a child abuse warrant stemming from an incident involving allegations that beat his daughter with a household extension cord. The girl later recanted her story and the charges were dropped. The same newspaper service also reported that McGill led an October 2007 march from his church to his town’s city hall in which 300 people protested high utility bills.

Posted By: Ralph Roberts @ 8:27 pm Comments (6) 
Filed under: Florida,Mortgage Fraud

1. To all the followers of this story: It’s going to be some things that will occur and people come forward that will burst this case wide open and I hope Rodney, Shay, Tonya, Cliff, Darryl, Dwayne and Mike burst JAIL wide open!! I will testify to everything I know, including them defrauding the elderly, poor and disabled. R McGill thinks he is so smart and uses God name to lure victims, especially the elderly. Once taken in, the victims are blindsided with threats of foreclosure. Surely, there are victims starting as far away as Miami to Jacksonville and I hope you all come forward. Let’s put and keep these CROOKS behind bars for a very very long time!!
   Comment by Ripped Off — October 3, 2008 @12:08 am
2. Hi Ripped Off, my father was an elderly victim also, he worked hard all his life, and when his youngest child died accidently, Rodney and Shalonda seized the opportunity to scam him out of over a half million dollars. He has been in a civil lawsuit for 2 years. This couple has no mercy in them, it is just unbelievable! Please tell everything you know to Detective Ted Padich at 561837-5635. He is in jail saying he will beat this, he has hired a million dollar lawyer from Miami to represent him. We need everyone to come forward at this time. Evil prevails when good people do nothing. Dont let anyone else go through what my father has suffered for years, if you are out there and have been hurt by the Mcgills or Young Millionaires group, please, come forward!
   Comment by Someone who cares — October 9, 2008 @ 12:04 am
3. He who is without sin cast the first stone. What the McGills did is something to be debated in a courtroom. There has yet to be a trial in this case. But all I have to say is that what they are accused of is no where near as bad as what the banks have done to mortgagee’s all over this nation.
   The question with the McGill’s is to the legality of the situation. You see as long as you operate within the guidlines set forth by the government then you could essentially do whatever you want without any recourse. The law doesn’t care about poor innocent people. The goverment which upholds the law gave billions of dollars to the banks which essentially did worst than what the McGills are accused of. So how does this fit into the the equation? Why are the McGills so demonfied and assumed guilty before trial when they have only been charged?
   Wake up people! If this story upsets you then you should be enraged so intensly to the point that it makes you ill to your core over all the bail outs going on. The oil industry? Wallstreet? Big Banks? The car industry? They have been sticking it to us for years. And what about those CEO’s who ripped off investor’s for multi-millions? Are any of them arrested or in jail right now? This very article is questionable. They say that the McGill’s were arrested due to a routine traffic stop but what were they stopped for? And how did that lead to their arrest in an investigation that was obviously ongoing. And what does their personal relationship with their daughter have to do with any of this?
   It sounds like a smear campaign to me. My question is why? Because they are black maybe? And in a time where poeple are already upset about the economy this story just gives people someone to vent their anger out towards. And who better than a black preacher and his wife who may have used some unguidelined methods as it pertains to the mortgage industry. When those who operate within the guidelines get away with murder. Literally! Financially or otherwise.
   Let them have their day in court. But in no way should this case be argued upon moral merits. The case should only be argued as to what the legal violations were if any. If we argue on the grounds of morality then we are all guilty and the American government should be overthrown. What about the millions of poeple who pay income tax when it is completely unconstitutional. The IRS takes in trillions of dollars every year from the average working men and women and uses it to pay the interest on the national debt. The income tax is completely voluntary but tell that to the same judicial system that has taken people’s property, jailed them, and confiscated their homes for none compliance. This same judicial system now has the McGill’s within their clutches and maybe next it will be you. Your anger and outrage should be redirected. To use a popular black phrase; “Dont hate the player, hate the game.”
   Comment by Life Tree Corp. — December 14, 2008 @ 4:14 pm
4. Wow! I ripped people off for $50 billion and I’m home chilling in my $10 million mansion in NYC, while this poor shmuck rots in jail for scamming a few sheckels from some shvartzes! God bless America!!! Oy vay!
   -Bernie Madoff
   Comment by B. Madoff — January 3, 2009 @ 1:42 am
5. WHO IS THIS SCUMBAG FROM Life Tree Corp,THEY NEED TO BE INVESTIGATED TOO..YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT BIRDS OF A FEATHER,THEY FLOCK TOGETHER..THE McGILLS SHOULD BE UNDER THE JAIL
   Comment by LEE — July 22, 2009 @ 4:28 pm