Published: October 13, 2007 09:51 pm      

11 receive sentences in Oak Tree housing fraud case

EDMOND — Eleven defendants convicted of offenses stemming from a mortgage fraud scheme involving Oak Tree properties in north Edmond were sentenced to prison in U.S. District Court.

Gayle L. Caldwell, 39; Charles E. Caldwell, Jr., 41; Teresa M. Therrien, 32; and Rusty Real Therrien, 33, were sentenced Friday after being found guilty following a 12-day jury trial in April, according to the federal prosecutor’s office in Oklahoma City.

Timothy J. McDaniel, 45; Anthony Jew, 38; and Toney Charles Mykel, 40, were convicted in separate, related cases and testified in the trial against the above six defendants, the office stated in a press release.

The defendants were indicted in November 2006.

The evidence at trial showed that defendant Brandon L. Baum, 32, of Joplin, Mo., was a real estate agent and acted as the buyers’ agent in the purchases of properties in Oak Tree subdivision.

Potential home buyers represented by Baum were told they could receive substantial funds at the time of closing under the guise of “repair costs,” which they could use for their personal benefit, if they agreed to purchase the homes at an inflated price. Sellers’ agents for certain hard-to-sell properties in Oak Tree negotiated sales with Baum, according to a release from the Department of Justice.

Braum was convicted of 13 counts involving wire fraud and engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property. He was sentenced to serve 87 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of nearly $512,000.

Gayle Caldwell was convicted of two counts involving wire fraud and money laundering. She was served to 18 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release.

Charles Caldwell was convicted of three counts involving wire fraud. He was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of nearly $186,000.

Teresa Therrien was convicted of two counts involving wire fraud and engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property. She was sentenced to one month in federal prison, followed by 90 days of home detention while serving two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of almost $83,000.

Rusty Therrien was convicted of six counts involving wire fraud and engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property. He was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of almost $83,000.

Joseph Therrien, 29, of Oklahoma City, was convicted of two counts involving wire fraud and engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property. He was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of almost $60,000.

McDaniel, Jew, Mykel and Dalton Joe Alford, 35, of Oklahoma City, were convicted of similar charges and sentenced to serve terms of six to 12 months in prison, followed by supervised release. All were ordered to pay restitution ranging from about $14,000 to $263,000.

The 11th defendant, Theresa Ann Campbell, 66, of Edmond, pled guilty in December of last year to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was sentenced previously to two months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release. She also was ordered to pay a $4,000 fine and more than $52,000 in restitution.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Criminal Investigative Division of the Internal Revenue Service.

It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Susan Dickerson Cox and Nick Lillard.