Loris, LW man among four sentenced for morgage fraud

By DEUCE NIVEN

    Prison sentences from 18 to 30 months were ordered as four men were sentenced Wednesday for their roles in a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme in Columbus, Brunswick and New Hanover counties, U.S. Attorney Thomas G. Walker said in a news release.
    Senior U.S. District Court Judge Malcolm J. Howard in Greenville, North Carolina, also ordered more than $5.3 million in combined restitution judgments against the men, one from Columbus County, the other three from Horry County.
    Sentencing came nearly two years after the men entered guilty pleas in the case. They are Robert Harold Melville Jr., 52, of Lake Waccamaw; Justin Lee Rooks, 33, of Loris; Michael Thomas Bartlett, 48, of Myrtle Beach; and Howard Michael Tew, 33, of Conway.
    Rooks, a developer, Bartlett, a closing attorney, and Tew, entered guilty pleas in December 2012 to conspiracy to commit mail, wire and bank fraud. Melville pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.
    Sentencing ordered by Judge Howard were: Mellville, 31 months in prison, three years of supervised release, more than $1.3 million in restitution; Rooks, 30 months in prison, five years supervised release, more than $1.7 million in restitution; Bartlett, 24 months in prison, five years of supervised release, more than $1.3 million in restitution; and Tew, 18 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and $883,420 in restitution.
    See more on this story in next Wednesday’s Tabor-Loris Tribune in print and online.