State Attorney Dennis Ward To Take Closer Look at Robo-signing

by Matt Gardi

Excerpts from the report…

State Attorney Ward, who has a MERS clause on his own mortgage, wants to insure that even if the use of MERS is valid, that those individuals signing as MERS officers cross their T’s and dot their I’s. MERS has stringent requirements that those individuals whom sign as officers or secretaries of MERS receive training and take examinations, and have their authority properly documented.

The article then goes on to say…

One such example is illustrated in a deposition taken January 7, 2011 of Patricia Arango, an attorney at Marshall Watson, a law firm in Fort Lauderdale. In that deposition Arango states that neither she, nor her firm are members of MERS, and that she had never taken any training, testing or exams. But yet she has produced numerous assignments of mortgage signing as an assistant secretary on behalf of MERS as nominee for Countrywide and other lenders.

State Attorney Ward has one such case under review that has been filed in his circuit, and has asked his Chief Investigator and Assistant State Attorney Mark Wilson to look into it. Wilson was responsible for successfully prosecuting former Monroe County Schools Superintendent Randy Acevedo and his wife Monique on felony charges associated with misappropriating school district resources.

The case in question is case No. 2009CA1069P in the 16th Judicial Circuit. In it, Arango signs an assignment of mortgage as Assistant Secretary of MERS as nominee for Homebridge Mortgage giving the mortgage to Bank of NY Melon. Days later, in a Lis Pendens signed before Arango’s assignment is even filed, attorneys Karen Thompson and Ingrid Fadil, from Arango’s own Law Firm of Marshall Watson, file for foreclosure on behalf of Plaintiff, Bank of New York Melon.

Then, State Attorney Ward asks for your help…

Ward, who has maintained a fraud hotline (305-892-5790) since he has taken office in January of 2009, also maintains an online form on his web site at www.keyssao.org that gives the public the opportunity to inform his office of fraud. He suggests that anyone who is aware of potentially questionable documents that have been filed in the 16th Judicial Circuit use these services to report it. He especially would ask that foreclosure defense attorneys who have a good working knowledge of the issue let his office know if they find any such infractions that may rise to level of criminal intent.

You can check out Matt’s article in full here…

I’ll even give State Attorney Ward a head start on a “infraction that may rise to level of criminal intent.”

Check out the Patricia Arango assignment of mortgage below. Be sure to note that it is witnessed and notarized.

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4closureFraud.org

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Arango Assignment of Mortgage