Community Corner

Women Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Mortgage Fraud

The two women will serve time for using their clients' money for themselves.

A tip to the Wheaton Police Department led to two women being sentenced Monday, June 20 for their involvement in a home mortgage fraud scheme.

Pamela Williams, 58, 7517 Grant St., Darien, and Patricia Johnson, 57, 44 Elmwood Dr., Naperville, will each spend 10 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for their role in the scheme carried out by PLM Title Company, which Williams owned. Johnson was a silent partner.

On April 4, 2010, each woman entered a blind plea of guilty to stealing more than $500,000 from their victims from November 2007 through April 2008. In all, each woman pled guilty to one count of theft over $500,000 (Class 1 non-probationable felony), eight counts of theft over $100,000 (Class 1 felony) and one count of theft over $300 (Class 3 felony).

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The sentence is the result of allegations that Williams and Johnson defrauded clients of PLM Title Company through home purchasing and refinancing services offered to customers throughout the Chicago area and Northern Indiana. When a PLM client closed on a home purchase or refinance, the new mortgage holder would wire money into a PLM Title Company escrow account with the intention of using this money to pay off the client’s previous mortgage. Instead of using this money to pay off the client’s former mortgage holder, Williams and Johnson would use the money for personal or business operating expenses. Their scheme began to unravel, however, when an attorney for one of the victims contacted the Wheaton Police Department.

"Pamela Williams and Patricia Johnson were in a position to help people achieve the American dream of home ownership,” said DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert B. Berlin. “But instead of helping, they were living large at their victims' expense. They left their victims responsible for two mortgages at a time when many people are having difficulty paying one.

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"I would like to thank the Wheaton Police Department, particularly detectives Dave Zdan and Steve Hamill, for assistance in helping us put an end to Ms. Williams and Ms. Johnson’s scheme. I would also like to thank assistant state’s attorneys Diane Michalak and William Wu for their outstanding work on this very complicated case.”

Both women will be required to serve 50 percent of their sentences before being eligible for parole.


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