Former Easton Man Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Distressed Homeowners

EASTON, CT — A former Easton man pleaded guilty to defrauding distressed homeowners through a long-running scheme.

Timothy Burke, 65, who goes by many aliases, made the plea Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

Burke would target people who were in or facing foreclosure and offer to purchase their homes and pay off their mortgages. Burke told those who signed papers with him that they would walk away from their homes without the burdens of mortgage and to ignore any foreclosure letters from the banks because the process takes time, according to the U.S. Attorney District of Connecticut office.

He would gain control of their houses, rent them out and falsely advertise that he owned the property. Many homes that Burke purportedly purchased ended up being foreclosed.

More from the U.S. Attorney office:

Burke undertook extensive efforts to disguise his true identity, and hide his criminal past, from his victims through the use of multiple aliases and business entities, and to conceal the sources of and expenditures from his criminal proceeds. Burke has been associated with multiple entities, including Quality Asset Management Services, LLC; Birmingham Investments, LLC; the Birmingham Group of Companies; Saunders Associates; New Haven Investments; Realty Partners Group; Preston Associates II; Landlord Maintenance Services, LLC; Turnkey Construction Services LLC; The Complete Handyman, LLC; and Woodbridge Associates.

In addition, between 1994 and 2012, Burke evaded paying approximately $403,726 in federal taxes.
In 2002, Burke was indicted by a federal grand jury in New Jersey on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud, and equity skimming. Burke subsequently pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit both equity skimming and mail fraud, and he was sentenced to 60 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. BURKE was released from federal custody in approximately August 2007 and began his federal supervised release at that time. One of the special conditions of Burke’s supervised release was that he refrain from employment in the real estate business or mortgage industry. Based on his motion for early termination of his supervised release, the New Jersey federal court terminated his supervised release approximately one year early in August 2009.

Today, Burke pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years, and one count of tax evasion, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years. Judge Shea scheduled sentencing for April 18, 2017.

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