Mike DeRose and Louis Carleo provded funding for Tony Ianne, indicted on 72 counts of mortage fraud

Here's another story where ole Michael DeRose's name comes up in providing funding for another Pueblo criminal. 

No real surprise here is there, other than he's not indicted!!

Yet anyway.

But as we all know, Michael DeRose only want to do good for the community, help the little children with his Small Smiles Clinics, save the Children at his Smile Starter clinics in North Carolina...right.

Yeah, whatever!  The DeRose/Roump/Carleo bunch only care about $$$$$!

By JAMES AMOS
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

The Pueblo County grand jury has indicted Rosario's restaurant owner Anthony "Tony" Ianne on 72 counts accusing him of mortgage fraud involving fake loan applications, fake pay stubs and, in some cases, having managers at his restaurant lie about the employment of prospective homebuyers.

The indictment was filed Monday in Pueblo District Court. The grand jury also indicted John Valle of Denver, the owner of Colorado Mortgage Firm, as well as Colorado Mortgage employees Brianna Valle and Sheldon Carlisle, naming them as co-conspirators with Ianne.

Pueblo District Attorney Bill Thiebaut said Monday that Ianne was the "principal actor" in the mortgage fraud incidents, which the indictment alleges took place between 2005 and 2007.

Ianne was indicted by the grand jury in October in connection with witness tampering allegedly for telling one of the homebuyers described in Monday's indictment not to talk to investigators.

Monday's indictment included a warrant for Ianne's arrest and a summons for the other three people to appear in court. Ianne surrendered at Pueblo County jail on Monday, and was released later in the afternoon on $100,000 bail. The indictment alleges that Ianne had bought a large number of "distressed properties" and needed to sell them to clear up his lines of credit.

According to the indictment, Ianne - unable to sell enough of the properties quickly enough - turned to "a universe of friends, family and employees" between 2005 and 2007 and asked them to be buyers.

The indictment stated that several of those people each bought multiple properties, even though some couldn't afford them. The indictment alleges those individuals were able to buy the properties because Ianne and Colorado Mortgage faked the financial credentials of the buyers.

The four buyers named as victims in the indictment were Mark Secorna, William Dotson, Penny Dominguez and Jeremy Garnett. They bought as many as 19 rental houses in total, but lost many of them to foreclosure later when renters moved out and could not be replaced.

The buyers, according to the indictment, "began to understand what had happened once their homes went into foreclosure," then turned to the district attorney's office and complained about discrepancies in their loans.

The indictment alleges that Ianne and Colorado Mortgage did the following:

Illegally provided the buyers with money for their down payments without disclosing it on loan and HUD (Housing and Urban Development) forms.

Paid the buyers illegal kickbacks, "secret payments to the buyers after closing," calling them "landscaping fees" and writing the checks from another Ianne company. The indictment also alleges that Ianne himself and also through his manager, Paul Andrada, did not always pay the buyers the amounts they were promised.

Falsified loan applications, sometimes with a special computer program called "Calyx," to make the buyers appear more attractive to lenders. None of the buyers should have qualified for multiple mortgages, according to the indictment. The closing dates for the homes were arranged to happen quickly to avoid disclosing that the buyers had multiple mortgages or loan applications.

When lenders began to ask questions in 2006, the group created even more false documents to try to prove that the buyers were good credit risks. According to the indictment, that included creating fake W-2 forms, pay stubs, bank statements and rental verifications.

The co-conspirators "on many occasions" forged the signatures of the four victims on legal documents.

"Furthermore," according to the indictment, "managers at Rosario's Inc. were told to verify the employment status of prospective (property) buyers who were not in fact employed by Rosario's Inc."

The indictment said all four buyers "had either performed contract labor for Ianne or had worked for him at his restaurant, Rosario's Inc."

Ianne's manager, Andrada, was not indicted, nor were were two Ianne employees named as being involved in the operation: Tami Cornelison, who was named in the indictment as someone who helped create false documents to help back up the bogus mortgage applications; and Dannete Gutierrez, who allegedly assisted in processing information for various buyers to present to mortgage brokers to arrange for loans.

The indictment also named some of Ianne's financial partners but did not accuse them of anything, saying: "During this period (2005-07), Ianne was also associated with other individuals who supplied funding for his business, Mike DeRose and Gino and Louie Carleo."

Contacted by The Chieftain on Monday, DeRose, a local dentist and civic leader, said: "I invested with (Ianne). I have no (other) comment.”

Louie Carleo, a local developer and civic leader, said: "I’ve never heard anything about it (the indictments and the business). It’s all news to me. I was never aware we did anything with him (Ianne).”

Ianne and the three Colorado Mortgage officials each were indicted on 29 counts of conspiracy to commit forgery, 20 counts of conspiracy to commit theft of more than $15,000, eight counts of conspiracy to commit computer crime in excess of $15,000, 14 counts of conspiracy to commit forgery, and one count of violating the state's organized crime law against "conducting an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity."

Thiebaut, the county's chief prosecutor, declined to say Monday if anyone else would be indicted or accused in the scheme.

"All I can say is that the 2009 grand jury continues to meet and investigate crimes in our community," he said.

Thiebaut said the court was asked for a warrant to arrest Ianne because of his status as the principal individual in the case. He noted that Ianne still faces the five counts in the October grand jury indictment of tampering with a witness/victim, retaliation against a witness/victim, first-degree criminal trespass and second-degree burglary.

Thiebaut also said that there were more than four victims.

"There were numerous people that came forward," he said. But "the grand jury decided to concentrate on these people at this time."

The case will be complicated, Thiebaut said, but added: "I'm confident we can prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt."

Ianne's attorney, Randy Jorgensen, said he hadn't seen the indictment Monday. But he repeated his earlier complaint - made in October when Ianne was previously indicted - that it's too easy to indict someone with a grand jury, and that the indictment doesn't prove Ianne is guilty of anything.

"They've been working on it for two years," he said of the grand jury's work on this case. "If you throw enough crap up against the wall . . ."

He said he thinks the grand jury was influenced by witnesses who were promised immunity, making them "bought and paid for."

"You buy your testimony with immunity," he said, adding: "I don't think Tony ever met Mr. Valle and (Ianne) definitely didn't ever meet the other Valle or Carlisle."

Jorgensen also said of the four home buyer victims: "Everybody who went into this went into it with their eyes wide open."

jamos@chieftain.com