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Ronald Blanchette of No. Brunswick charged for with providing false bank statements

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Patrick Anderson, the owner of an unregistered real estate investment firm that he ran out of his Orance home, has been indicted on charges that he stole more than $2 million from mortgage lenders by providing false information in four home loan applications, state Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced Monday.

Ronald L. Blanchette Jr., of North Brunswick, who worked for a company that served as a mortgage broker on two of the loans, has also been indicted for allegedly providing false bank account statements.

Anderson, 46, was named in a five-count state grand jury indictment, along with AAA Investments, his unregistered company, which purportedly was a real estate investment and property management company. Anderson and AAA Investments were each charged with four counts of second-degree theft by deception and one count of third-degree money laundering.

Blanchette Jr., 41, was charged in two of the theft counts.

Anderson was arrested Monday at his home by detectives of the state Division of Criminal Justice. He is being held in the Essex County Jail. Bail has not yet been set. Blanchette was issued a summons. The indictment stems from an investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau.

“We charge that Anderson and his unregistered company stole more than $2 million from mortgage lenders by submitting fraudulent loan applications,” Chiesa said. “This type of mortgage fraud has a damaging impact on housing markets as well as lenders, because the defendants left a trail of foreclosed homes in their wake. In this troubled economy, we are working hard to expose and prosecute those who engage in financial fraud.”

“The amount of money that changes hands at a real estate closing is a powerful lure for con artists who think they can divert the money into their own pockets,” state Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor said. “We’ve made it a priority to investigate and prosecute major white collar crimes, including mortgage fraud and money laundering.”

Between February 2007 and October 2008, Anderson and AAA Investments allegedly deceived four mortgage lenders into providing $2,189,987 in loans for purchases of four homes: $999,000 for a home in McDonough, Ga., purchased on Feb. 9, 2007; $337,487 for a home in Newark purchased on Aug. 6, 2008; $445,500 for a home in Montclair purchased on Aug. 29, 2008; and $408,000 for a home in Orange purchased on Oct. 27, 2008.