Home Buyers Swindled In Newark, East Orange, Irvington: ECPO

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Authorities have accused 10 people of running a mortgage fraud scheme on home buyers in Newark, East Orange and Irvington. The ring also preyed on clients of the New York City SOTA program, a homeless relief initiative that has seen heavy criticism on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, prosecutors allege.

On Friday, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office announced that 10 residents of New Jersey and New York have been indicted and will be arraigned on charges that they engaged in a countywide mortgage fraud scheme that included racketeering, theft, tampering with records and money laundering.

Those charged are Darnell Alford, 42, of Toms River, Travis Glover, 57, of Jackson, Albert Johnson, 54 of Hillside, Christina Barnett, 37, of the Bronx, NY, Lashawn Glover, 50, of Jackson, Vera Johnson, 74, Hillside, Sean Huey, 42, of Piscataway, Donnette Ford, 51, of Piscataway, Cherryl Sharp, 62, of Clarksburg and Jalisa Clark, 31, of Irvington.

The scheme included the abuse of the New York City Special One Time Assistance Program (SOTA), a program which prepaid landlords one year of rent to relocate families from homeless shelters in New York City, prosecutors said.

• See related article: Newark Mayor Claims NYC Is 'Abandoning' Homeless In New Jersey
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Alford and Barnett were not arraigned Friday because they remain at large. A warrant has been issued for their arrest, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said the fraud ring did business under the name of four companies: Alford & Associates; Integrity First Construction and Property Management; Barnette Consulting Group; and 83 & Company.

According to prosecutors:

“Between 2016 and 2019, these individuals are alleged to have recruited unsuspecting buyers to purchase investment properties in Newark, East Orange and Irvington. With little to no down payment and questionable financial stability, the buyers were led to entrust the entire mortgage application process to Alford and Glover, sometimes never even seeing the home they were purchasing in person. The buyers were allegedly promised that their homes would be filled with tenants, that the properties would be managed by Alford and his associate, Barnett, and that the buyers would receive monthly income from the property.”

Many of the homes were purchased at “inflated prices,” prosecutors said.

Prosecutors continued:

“It is alleged that Alford, Glover, Johnson, and Barnett conspired to facilitate the purchase of a total of seven homes and obtained over $1.8 million in monies by deceiving mortgage lenders. They are alleged to have manipulated applications and temporarily gifted monies to the unsuspecting buyers to obtain the loans from the mortgage company. The “gift money” was recovered from the inflated loan that was disbursed at the time of closing. It is further alleged that the buyers were not aware that a significant portion of the monies they were borrowing, anywhere between $50,000 and $106,000, was being paid to Alford, Glover and Johnson.”

In some cases, the victims were young professionals who were told their student loans would be paid off as part of the transaction, authorities alleged.

Prosecutors continued:

“It is alleged that after closing, Barnett, who was presented as the “property manager,” failed to manage the properties. The homes were in various states of disrepair. Most disturbing is that the tenants, which were supposed to be income generating to the buyer, were often clients of the New York City SOTA program. The defendants had collected the year of prepaid rent from the SOTA program and allegedly absconded with those funds. The defendants ultimately abandoned the tenants and left the new unsuspecting owner with an unmaintained building. All seven homes fell into foreclosure.”

Anyone with additional information regarding this case can contact the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Financial Crimes Unit at (973) 688-3041.

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