Woman pleads guilty to $470,000 mortgage fraud scam

A Prior Lake woman pled guilty Friday to stealing more than $470,000 in a mortgage fraud scam.

Roseann Wagner admitted operating a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders, borrowers, and a title insurance underwriter in 2007. Wagner, a licensed insurance agent, accepted more than $470,000 from lenders at hundreds of closings, and then pocketed the money.

As a result, title insurance premiums, title search costs, and recording fees on hundreds of residential mortgage transactions went unpaid.

Wagner owned and operated Tri-Star Title, a title insurance agency. Tri-Star was the insurance agent for Stewart Title Guaranty Co., a Texas-based title insurance underwriting company.

When Stewart Title Guaranty discovered that Wagner had stolen the funds, it absorbed the losses of the borrowers, and paid the premiums and other expenses.

Wagner also admitted that she failed to file a tax return or pay taxes on more than $270,000 in 2007. She owes the Internal Revenue Service at least $70,000.

Wagner pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of failure to file a tax return. She was charged on Oct. 13, and faces a potential maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.