Four sentenced for their role in mortgage scheme

JACKSON — Four people who pleaded guilty almost five years ago in a mortgage fraud schemes have been sentenced.

Prosecutors said the scheme began in September 1999 and ended in 2005, when charges were filed. It involved two related cases totaling about $5.8 million in fraudulent mortgage loans.

The Clarion-Ledger reports three people were sentenced yesterday, including former Greenville real estate attorney Bobby F. Fisher.

U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate handed out sentences ranging from a minimum of eight months of house arrest to a maximum 27 months in federal prison.

Fisher, 50, received the maximum sentence and was ordered to make restitution of $768,501.

Fisher, a former Greenwood municipal judge, said in court yesterday he knew the loans were fraudulent. Fisher is to report to prison Jan. 3.

He voluntarily signed an agreement with the Mississippi Bar giving up his license to practice law forever in the state.

Wingate sentenced John William Emory III, 58, a former Ridgeland mortgage loan originator, to 10 months of home confinement and placed him on five years of probation. Emory was ordered to make restitution of $98,536.

One of the defendants, Joni Lynn Goss, 46, now of Ridgeland, received eight months of house arrest and five years or probation. She was ordered to make restitution of $155,768. Prosecutors said Goss reported the scheme prior to any charges in the case and gave information on how the scheme worked.

Matt Howard, 35, of Greenwood, was sentenced Wednesday to six months in federal prison and ordered to make restitution of $25,634.