Mortgage fraud conspirator gets more than a year in prison

Last update: August 19, 2008 - 12:07 AM

A former appraiser whose misleading and inflated appraisals of homes were part of the Parish Marketing mortgage fraud scheme was sentenced Monday to more than a year in prison.

Donald T. Yeager, 41, of Ardmore, Okla., was sentenced to 15 months by U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery. In addition, Yeager was sentenced to three years supervised release after his prison term and was ordered to pay restitution. He pleaded guilty in October 2007.

The Parish Marketing scheme involved approximately 200 homes and $100 million in loan proceeds. Parish Marketing and Development used straw buyers to buy homes built by Parish, primarily in New Prague, Lonsdale and New Market -- with about $25 million of the loan proceeds going to Parish Marketing.

Yeager pleaded guilty to conducting 74 appraisals for Parish Marketing from 2004 through 2005.

The appraisals were based primarily on a value concocted by a mortgage broker and were not the product of an independent analysis.

Yeager was paid $400 per appraisal and received about $30,000 in the scheme.

Two other defendants who pleaded guilty in the case -- a former bank officer and a former mortgage broker -- await sentencing.

Michael Parish, the architect of the scheme, was sentenced last month to 13 years in prison. His wife, Ardith, was sentenced to five years.

JAMES WALSH

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