Broker says guilty in mortgage fraud case against KC councilwoman

Wednesday, August 8, 2007
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A week before a former Kansas City councilwoman goes on trial for mortgage fraud, one of her alleged accomplices has pleaded guilty and said he will help prosecutors.

Ricky L. Hamilton, 53, of Grandview, pleaded guilty Tuesday to single counts of conspiracy and wire fraud. He also said he will testify against former Councilwoman Saundra McFadden-Weaver and contractor Emanuel M. Kind, who go on trial next week.

Prosecutors claim McFadden-Weaver in September 2005 received a $400,000 loan to buy a house in the Kansas City suburb of Lee's Summit, promising the lender that she would live there and misleading the lender about her income and who was paying the down payment.

The indictment alleges McFadden-Weaver had arranged for Kind to live in the house and pay the mortgage, while she planned to use the excess loan funds to renovate a Kansas City house that belonged to her church. Hamilton, a mortgage broker, was charged with assisting the loan process even though he knew McFadden-Weaver had included incorrect information.

The bank foreclosed on the house last August, after not receiving mortgage payments for several months, and sold it for $255,000.

McFadden-Weaver has previously said that she didn't read the requirement about living in the house and was mislead by others.