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More arrests made in grow house investigations

Highlands Today file photo

Larry Long, public information officer with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, photographs marijuana plants for internal purposes during a Sebring growhouse bust in 2007.

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By BRAD DICKERSON

Highlands Today

Published: October 30, 2009

SEBRING - Two more suspects were arrested Tuesday night on charges of mortgage fraud and grand theft stemming from the numerous grow houses discovered and dismantled in Highlands County in 2007.

Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) arrested Armando C. Basulto, 68, of Miami, in the Jacksonville area. Yudeivis Pino, 26, of Hialeah, turned himself in at the FDLE office in Miami and Metro Dade, according to a Highlands County Sheriff's Office press release.

Both were jailed under $75,000 bond each.

These arrests brought the total number of people taken into custody Tuesday in connection with the case to six. More arrests are expected.

In 2008, the United States Drug Enforcement Agency and the FLDE released its 2007 Indoor Grow Report that contained statistics on the Domestic Marijuana Eradication Program.

The Highlands County Sheriff's Office ranked sixth, out of 40 sheriff's offices and 15 municipal law enforcement agencies, in the detection and dismantling of grow sites, fourth in the arrest of cultivators and eighth in the number of plants destroyed, the release stated.

"When you look at the drastic increases locally of grow house activity during that period and the large volume of mortgage delinquencies, foreclosures and fraud shortly following in early 2008, you can link the activities together," said Sheriff Susan Benton.

The joint investigation between the FDLE and HCSO began in April 2008. When search warrants were executed on the homes for cultivation of marijuana, all were found abandoned.

"After reviewing the associated police reports relating to the search warrants, it appeared that these homes were obtained solely to facilitate the cultivation of (marijuana)," according to an FDLE investigation summary.

The first four suspects arrested - Alexander Yanes, Maria Lurbe, Yeleines Viera Cruz and Lesman Chava - bought real estate in St. Lucie and Highlands counties, the summary stated.

All homes were bought through fraudulent mortgage applications, and the suspects allegedly made "false representations of material facts in mortgage applications, thereby causing mortgage companies to issues mortgages for the purchase of eight houses."

The loans were processed through a mortgage brokerage company called Ocean Mortgages and Investments Inc., the summary stated. The borrowers were represented by three people employed by Ocean Realty Services Inc., who were acting as real estate agents. Both companies were housed in the same building in Miami.

Yeleines Viera Cruz was listed as a licensed Ocean Realty Realtor.

As part of the mortgage lending process, the suspects - via loan officers from Ocean Mortgages and Investments Inc. - submitted fraudulent uniform residential loan applications, requests for employment verification, requests for verification of deposit, W2 forms, payroll stubs and bank statements, according to the investigation summary.

"The aggregate dollar amount of all loans procured fraudulently by the defendants from the mortgage lenders exceeded $2 million," the summary stated.

Once the homes were bought, they were modified and used as marijuana grow houses. The borrowers reportedly co-occupied the homes or had friends and family live there to process the pot for sale and distribution.

"When the increased eradication efforts began, those homes were abandoned, placing more pressure on a market that was already in turmoil," Benton said.

Highlands Today reporter Brad Dickerson can be reached at 863-386-5838 or bdickerson@highlandstoday.com

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