New City Lawyer Serving as Monroe Judge Lied to Bank, FBI: Prosecutors

NEW CITY, NY — Lurlyn A. Winchester, a member of the Rockland County Bar Association and a Justice for the Town Court of Monroe, was arrested Wednesday by federal agents. She is accused of lying about buying a home in Monroe, where she needed to move to be the town judge.

The lie was so elaborate, prosecutors alleged, that she fabricated rent receipts for her New City home, for which she said she had gotten a tenant. Then, they said, she lied to FBI agents who asked about it.

She was charged with making false statements, in connection with an application for a loan to purchase a home in Monroe which satisfied the residency requirement of her position as Town Justice. She was also charged with obstruction of justice, for providing law enforcement officers, who questioned her about her mortgage loan, with false documents, including fabricated rent payment receipts.

“As alleged, Lurlyn Winchester, a municipal court judge for the Town of Monroe, lied and provided fake documents to secure a mortgage on a Monroe condominium in an attempt to falsely satisfy the judicial residency requirement," Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said in the announcement. "We should expect and demand integrity in our government. This Office is committed to pursuing corruption in all forms and in all three branches of government, including the judiciary. I thank our partners at the FBI for their work in exposing this fraud and holding accountable our public officials.”

According to the indictment, in 1997 Winchester and her husband purchased a home in New City, New York (the “New City Home”), which they continue to own. On or about October 6, 2013, Winchester, an attorney practicing in New City, was nominated to be the democratic candidate for Town of Monroe Justice. At that time, she provided an address in Monroe (“Monroe Residence-1”), as her residence, and on or about Oct. 7, 2013, she registered to vote in Monroe. She was elected Town of Monroe Justice Nov. 5, 2013.

Prosecutors said that in 2014, Hudson United Mortgage, LLC (“Hudson United”), a mortgage broker located in New City, New York, received a letter from Winchester indicating that she was relocating to Monroe in order to comply with a residency requirement attached to that position. She and her husband submitted an application for a residential loan to Hudson United, and indicated that the loan was to be used to purchase a condominium in Monroe. On both the loan application and a disclosure notice, signed by the defendant and her husband, they asserted that Monroe would be their primary residence.

Federal officials said that in or about March 2015, Winchester learned that the ultimate loan issuer, Plaza Home Mortgage Inc. (“Plaza”), was going to decline to issue the loan due to insufficient income. In response, She again represented that she and her husband were going to rent out the New City Home and indicated they would have rental income of $4,500 a month. Plaza requested copies of a fully executed 12-month lease and a canceled check for a security deposit. Winchester provided a copy of a lease agreement, signed by the defendant, her husband, and a tenant (the “Tenant”). She also submitted a copy of two $4,500 checks for the security deposit and one month’s rent, made out to the defendant, and drawn on the Tenant’s bank account, as well as other documents reflecting that the checks were deposited into Winchester bank account. In or about April 2015, Plaza issued the loan.

Prosecutors allege that contrary to the her representations, Winchester did not intend to and did not lease the New City Home to a tenant in 2015; instead she fabricated a 2015 lease and caused checks to be issued and deposited to make it falsely appear that the tenant had paid rent and a security deposit. The tenant did not sign a lease in March 2015, never moved in to the New City Home, and Winchester provided the $9,000 that covered the two $4,500 checks purportedly provided by the tenant.

Kim praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI. He also thanked the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office for their assistance.