Inman

Five charged in Atlanta mortgage fraud case

A man on parole for armed robbery allegedly enlisted his parole officer, girlfriend, a federal prison guard and a loan officer in a mortgage fraud scheme that could land them all prison, authorities said.

Quentin Chandler, 27, paroled last year from a 10-year sentence for armed robbery, is accused of attempting to illegally profit from the sale of a vacant home in Atlanta by inflating its value and borrowing money against it. Also charged is Chandler’s girlfriend, Takeisha Randolph, a 25-year-old real estate agent; his parole officer, Michael Turner, 44; federal prison guard Duane Timmons, 45; and loan officer Royce Odor, 42.

The vacant home was in the 30310 ZIP code, one of the top areas for mortgage fraud in the nation, an investigator told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The five are suspected of similar schemes with other properties, the paper said.