Second defendant pleads guilty in case against KC councilwoman

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The second of two alleged accomplices of a former Kansas City councilwoman had pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud.

Emanuel M. Kind, 52, on Thursday pleaded guilty to single counts of conspiracy and wire fraud.

His co-defendant, Ricky L. Hamilton, plead guilty to similar charges Tuesday.

Both men have agreed to cooperate in the prosecution of Saundra McFadden-Weaver, who lost a re-election fight for her council seat after the indictment in January.

McFadden-Weaver is scheduled to go on trial next week.

Before Kind's plea, defense attorney Willie J. Epps Jr. said the government's case against Kind was "full, complete and overwhelming."

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.

They allege that McFadden-Weaver arranged for Kind to live in the house and pay the mortgage, while she planned to use the extra 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.

Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan said prosecutors could ask Kind, if he testified, about prior convictions for passing bad checks and present evidence that Kind threatened three real estate company employees to write him checks from the alleged mortgage scheme.

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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com