Mortgage Fraud and Home Stripping Prosecutions Program

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2010

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) is participating in a multiagency effort to investigate and prosecute home stripping cases related to the foreclosure crisis in Maricopa County. Home stripping occurs when home owners facing foreclosure remove fixtures such as appliances and cabinetry from the home, generally to sell the items. The MCAO has been utilizing Arizona law, which makes it a crime to defraud a secured creditor, to prosecute those engaged in home stripping. The MCAO is working in tandem with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Mortgage Task Force and other local law enforcement agencies to prosecute these cases. The FBI Task Force consists of law enforcement officers from the Phoenix Police Department, Mesa Police Department, the Attorney General’s Office and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. Initially, the Task Force searched for advertisements on CraigsList and officers went undercover to purchase the fixtures. The taskforce is now receiving referrals from neighbors about home stripping. As a result of the Mortgage Fraud and Home Striping Prosecutions Program, the MCAO has successfully prosecuted several home stripping cases, with several others pending. This initiative demonstrates an innovative and inexpensive solution that can be created and applied to a large metropolitan area. Law enforcement officials have noted a dramatic decrease in advertisements for home fixtures since prosecutions began.