Raleigh Resident Sentenced To 60 Months For Loan And Insurance Fraud

GREENVILLE – United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that today in federal court, Senior United States District Judge Malcolm J. Howard sentenced TERESA LYN FLETCHER , age 55, of Raleigh, North Carolina, to 60 months imprisonment, followed by 5 years of supervised release.

FLETCHER pleaded guilty to a Criminal Information filed on September 3, 2014, charging her with two counts of bank fraud and one count of mail fraud.  According to the investigation, charging documents and statements made in court, FLETCHER engaged in separate schemes to defraud Bank of North Carolina, TD Bank, and Liberty Mutual Insurance over a 10-month span in 2013. 

In January 2013, FLETCHER provided false information about her income and assets to Bank of North Carolina in order to obtain a personal loan.  Among other things, FLETCHER falsified her credit application and submitted bogus wage records.  After Bank of North Carolina approved the loan based on FLETCHER’s fraudulent representations, FLETCHER proceeded to rapidly dissipate the loan proceeds.  When FLETCHER defaulted on the loan for non-payment, she filed a false identity theft report with Equifax claiming that someone else had opened the loan account.

In February 2013, FLETCHER closed on the purchase of a $1.85 million residence in Raleigh.  To finance the purchase, FLETCHER applied to TD Bank for over $1.65 million in loans. During the loan approval process, FLETCHER gave false information to TD Bank about her financial condition and the nature of the sales transaction.  Among other things, FLETCHER completed a loan application in which she falsified her assets, provided TD Bank with counterfeit bank records and fake IRS Forms W-2 reflecting grossly inflated wages, and fraudulently represented in the HUD-1 settlement statement that she had received a “gift of equity” to be applied to the purchase price, when, in fact, it was a concealed side loan.  After defaulting on her loan obligations to TD Bank, FLETCHER submitted a false identity theft report to Experian in an effort to prevent the negative item from appearing on her credit report.  

FLETCHER’s Raleigh residence was thereafter insured by Liberty Mutual Insurance.  From approximately May 2013 to October 2013, FLETCHER made repeated false claims against the Liberty Mutual homeowner’s policy for reimbursement of expenses she purportedly incurred to repair the residence after a spring storm hit the Raleigh area.  In furtherance of the scheme, FLETCHER generated counterfeit records from contractors and vendors and provided them to Liberty Mutual to support her claims.

Investigation of this case was conducted by the United States Secret Service.  The prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Adam F. Hulbig.