This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A federal grand jury has indicted a Lehi homebuilder and a Tooele mortgage broker who allegedly used stolen identities and false information to apply for loans from a Utah bank.
Alan Prince, 59, Lehi, the owner of the real estate development company Prince Development, LLC., was indicted along with Joseph Aldridge, 50, Draper, a mortgage broker.
According to the indictment, Prince sought construction loans from Proficio Bank of Salt Lake City. But the bank required that Prince had to first find buyers who were pre-approved for permanent financing.
Prince or someone acting for him contacted mortgage brokers asking them to provide names of buyers for properties, the indictment says.
Prince gave the brokers the address of a property, a purchase price, the date of a purported loan application and sometimes the amount of the deposit or down payment, according to the indictment made public Wednesday. The brokers would then prepare a loan application from a buyer and a letter signed by the broker stating that the buyer was pre-approved for long-term financing, it says.
Brokers, including Aldridge, used the actual identifications of former clients or acquaintances, but altered and inflated the information about their income and assets, the charges state.
Prince paid the brokers about $500 for each loan application. He submitted the documents to Proficio Bank and obtained construction loans.
Prince is charged with conspiracy, seven counts of bank fraud and seven counts of aggravated identity theft. Aldridge is charged with two counts of bank fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
The potential sentence for the conspiracy count is up to five years in prison. Each bank fraud charge carries a possible 30-year sentence, while the penalty for each charge of aggravated identity theft is a two-year mandatory minimum sentence.
Federal prosecutors also are seeking the return of $810,810 from Prince.
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