Fourth home-fraud defendant sentenced to a year's probation

Stroudsburg, PA.-"The fourth of five people charged in a conspiracy to defraud home buyers was sentenced Thursday to a year's probation after pleading guilty to perjury. Lauren Erb, 47, of Kunkletown was charged with taking part in the fraud scheme by signing as a witness on a forged home sales agreement in 1998, and then making a false statement to a Harrisburg grand jury in 2004 when asked about what she did. The state Attorney General's Office in January 2005 filed fraud charges against Erb and others affiliated with Eagle Valley Homes in Brodheadsville, including owner Steven Parisi, mortgage broker Rose Perdue, builder Donald Kishbaugh and Mountain Valley Abstract owner Anita Peterson. The scheme involved false documents, forged signatures, inflated home prices and phantom down-payments on second mortgages hidden from the buyers and primary lender, according to the Attorney General's Office. In return for pleading guilty to perjury, the forgery charge against Erb was dismissed."...
September 15, 2006