Blacklick Couple Indicted for Mortgage Fraud

Posted on 3/24/2010

Defendant: Kevin E. Murphy and Mary R. Murphy

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, and  the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission and have announced a 71-count indictment against Kevin E. Murphy and Mary R. Murphy, a Columbus based real estate agent, for their roles in a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme.  The charges in the indictment are related to 26 property transfers between 2004 and 2007 with a total loan value of approximately $11 million.

The indictment alleges that the Murphys orchestrated real estate "investment" deals with straw buyers and utilized shell companies to divert lender funds to bank accounts that they controlled.  The indictment also alleges that the couple forged signatures and tampered with records pertaining to the selling of real estate.   The charges against Mary Murphy are relate to transactions on four properties.  Ultimately, the lenders filed foreclosure actions on most of the properties involved in the mortgage fraud scheme.

Charges against the pair include engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, theft, attempted theft, forgery, money laundering, tampering with records and receiving stolen property. The Murphy’s are scheduled for arraignment in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas on April 5.

"This type of systematic crime has a very negative impact on our community - it contributes to the physical decline of our neighborhoods, it decreases property values, and it damages our financial well-being as a whole.  We are committed to holding those who are responsible accountable for their actions."

The indictment against Kevin Murphy incorporates a previously announced indictment on charges related to his role in similar transactions with 12 co-defendants involving 14 properties. The new charges against Murphy relate to his involvement in an additional 12 property transactions. At the time of the offenses, Kevin Murphy worked as a loan officer for the now-defunct Premier Mortgage Funding, 3245 E. Livingston Avenue in Columbus.

This case was investigated by the Central Ohio Mortgage Fraud Task Force composed of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in the central Ohio area.  The task force includes the Columbus Division of Police - Economic Crime Unit, Office of Inspector General for Housing and Urban Development, Upper Arlington Police Department, the office of Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the office of Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien.