Eric Devon Bernard, also known as Eric Allen Shapiro, has been found guilty of mortgage fraud in a non-jury trial in Hennepin County District Court.

Judge George McGunnigle ordered Bernard, 31, taken into custody until sentencing. Hennepin County prosecutors argued that Bernard is a flight risk and asked that he be held until his sentencing. The judge agreed.

"We continue to aggressively prosecute these mortgage fraudsters," Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said. "Identity theft and fraudulent transfers need to stop. Thanks to some great police work, these abusers have been brought to justice."

Bernard's two accomplices, Stacey Anne Harrold, 43, of Burnsville and David Arthur Schoenhofen, 43, of Prior Lake pleaded guilty earlier.

The three will be sentenced in late September.

The $5 million scheme centered around the Enzo Mortgage Group of St. Paul. It involved stealing, or attempting to steal, the identity of two people in California and the establishment of a bogus construction company. Five of the seven homes involved went into foreclosure.

According to testimony in the case, Bernard set up bank accounts for Cire Builders and Cire Building. Cire is Bernard's first name spelled backwards. The statements were sent to his home.

Schoenhoffen would either identify properties to buy or purchase them through one of his companies. Then Harrold, through her work as a loan officer at Enzo Mortgage Group, would create fraudulent documents and set up the sales first to Bernard and, later, to the California residents whose identities were stolen.

At closing, the three would share in fees, kickbacks of loan proceeds and payments to Cire Builders for work that never was done on the houses.

In the trial, Bernard's lawyer argued that his client was "an innocent dupe" in the scheme.

The residences included a downtown Minneapolis condo and houses in North Oaks, Forest Lake, south Minneapolis and Stillwater.

Neal St. Anthony • 612-673-7144