JNS BLOG EDITORIAL: Told You So. Marlon Pratt Convicted Of Mortgage Fraud...(Summer Visitation 2009)

Photo By John Hoff

Mainstream media are reporting Marlon Pratt, formerly of Universal Mortgage, has been convicted of 17 counts of fraud and two other counts. Nobody is terribly surprised by this. The only person less surprised than me would be Marlon Pratt himself, who reportedly showed little reaction as the verdict was read.


But I'm not writing this editorial just to say "I told you so." There are two more important things which need to be said. First of all...

...the prosecutor's office needs more investigative resources to prosecute all this mortgage fraud. This trial, like Larry Maxwell's trial, went on for weeks. The expenditure of public resources is tremendous, but if we don't catch and convict all the mortgage fraudsters--including the "little fish"--then they will strike repeatedly and continue to hurt society and our neighborhoods.

When an "exotic dancer" in her 20s comes into possession of numerous houses, nothing good will come of THAT. We must catch and convict all these scummy, skanky fraudsters before their scams evolve in the way (for example) influenza has a tendency to mutate.

One hears rumors of "grants" which are in the offing to help police and prosecutors investigate mortgage fraud. To any public official involved in making this actually happen: FOR GOD'S SAKE, SPEED THIS AID FORWARD. Do not tarry, do not rest, even a single day may mean the difference between somebody being arrested versus slipping out of the grasp of justice.

Secondly, one can't help but wonder what indicted and accused mortgage fraudster Tynessia Snoddy is thinking right now. Hopefully, it is something along the lines of oh, god, is there some way I can still cut a deal with the prosecutor? Is there any way to convince a prosecutor that I, Tynessia Snoddy--somebody involved in real estate, somebody who "held the keys" in allegedly fraudulent transactions--was not as much of a bad actor as, for example, somebody who was given the trust and responsibility of, for example, a non-profit organization?

Gee, is there anybody like that I, Tynessia Snoddy, could roll over upon to save my sorry, criminally-indicted ass?

Thinking, thinking, thinking...

My dear readers, a believable little birdie told me Tynessia Snoddy was directly involved in the notorious deal at 1564 Hillside Ave. N. and, furthermore, birdie says the buyer and seller sat in separate rooms during the closing. The little birdie told me LOTS of things about who was in the room at the time.

Here's something else a little birdie told me, though it was a DIFFERENT little birdie:

Birdie was talking to me about why it is the authorities appear to prosecute some fraudsters, not others. The deal is prosecutions are initiated by police investigations, and police investigations are initiated by citizen complaints.

So if you have proof somebody participated in mortgage fraud, here's what you need to do: make a police report. Go talk to the police. Put the documents in front of police investigators.

No, SERIOUSLY.

Consider, if you will, the mortgage fraud prosecutions that have taken place involving houses in NoMi. In every instance, these prosecutions began when non-police, non-prosecutor "good citizen" individuals at the grassroots level tediously gathered and organized information, then pretty much TEDIOUSLY LOBBIED POLICE INVESTIGATIONS INTO EXISTANCE.

I think blogs can be helpful in this regard by disseminating emerging info and, also, facilitating discussion and organizing around emerging issues. Sure, bloggers can also dig stuff up themselves, but that's true of anybody. The power of the blogosphere is the ability to disseminate info plus allow anybody to jump into the public discussion, communicating their interest and involvement in the issue.

Having said that, it is my intention to create a list of properties known to be involved with Donald Pratt and his associates--including some not listed on the criminal complaint which I sort of stumbled upon--and to keep that list updated, exactly as I did with my list of T.J. Waconia properties. I've always felt addresses are the key, since the address can unlock all the OTHER information.

In summary, Pratt's conviction comes as no surprise. The unanswered questions are these: how much wider and how much more quickly can the prosecution net be cast, and what will poor, doomed Tynessia Snoddy do to save herself from an even longer prison sentence?