A St. Louis man who pleaded guilty to reverse mortgage fraud was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $90,000 in restitution in charges comprising wire fraud and theft of government money.
Larry Bradshaw was indicted in March for defrauding an elderly woman after befriending her, and taking out a reverse mortgage on her home by use of a durable power of attorney. According to court documents, Bradshaw used the loan proceeds for his own purposes including the purchase of an automobile and illegal drugs.
Additionally, he falsified his own disability documents by failing to disclose his access to the reverse mortgage funds, according to the Justice Department.
Bradshaw pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of theft of government money. In addition to the prison sentence he was ordered to pay $89,245 in restitution, according to a local report by St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The case was investigated by the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General and the Social Security Administration. Sentencing was conducted by U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
