2 sentenced in reverse-mortgage scheme

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Nov. 4 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Florida Friday sentenced two loan officers in a nationwide $2.5 million reverse-mortgage fraud scheme.

The Justice Department said Kimberly Mackey, 47, of Pittsburgh, and Marcos Echevarria, 29, of Palm Beach, Fla., solicited seniors to obtain reverse mortgages on their homes and then took the proceeds of those loans without paying off the borrowers' outstanding loans.

U.S. District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas in Fort Lauderdale sentences Mackey to 60 months in prison and five years of supervised release, and ordered her to pay more than $1.6 million in restitution. Echevarria faces 24 months in prison, five years supervised release and payment of more than $1.6 million in restitution.

Two other participants are scheduled to be sentenced next month.