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TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that a Central Florida woman has been sentenced to 18 years in prison to be followed by 10 years of probation for participating in criminal mortgage fraud schemes. Patricia C. Grant and her daughter, Geisha Morris, were previously found guilty by an Orange County jury for their role in a mortgage fraud ring that operated throughout Central and South Florida. The case was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.

Grant, 51, worked with Morris, 25, husband Edgar Grant, 73, and a fourth co-conspirator, Novelette Hanse, 57, to falsify numerous documents which enabled them to obtain over 3 million dollars in mortgages loans. The Grants and their daughter, with the help of Hanse, filed fraudulent W-2 forms, bank statements, HUD forms, employment forms and a number of other documents as part of the scheme. Using those fraudulently obtained loans and working with Hanse, Grant and her family members purchased expensive homes in Orange, Broward, and Palm Beach counties for friends and other family members. Grant was able to falsify the documents by overinflating earnings statements, claiming individuals were making six-figure incomes as employees of a company she once owned and then dissolved.

Patricia Grant, Edgar Grant, Morris and Hanse were arrested in March 2005. Each faced multiple charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, organized fraud of more than $50,000, grand theft, and mortgage fraud. Edgar Grant pleaded guilty in 2006 and was sentenced to 2 years in jail. Morris is scheduled to be sentenced in June. Hanse’s trial is currently scheduled for June. The investigation was a joint effort by the Office of Statewide Prosecution, the Office of Financial Regulation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.