Home at last Real Estate Wells owner ARRESTED! Carole MacCollum for Loan Fraud and Forgery. Carole L. MacCollum Home at last Real Estate ARRESTED FRAUD! Wells Maine

REAL ESTATE AGENTS ARRESTED  FOR LOAN FRAUD AND FORGERY   Real estate agents Carole L. McCollum was arrested Tuesday, October 16, 2018, for loan fraud in connection with the sale of two homes.  The agent was charged with two counts of grand theft, and with two counts of forgery.  MacCollum was booked into York county jail in lieu of $200,000 bail.   MacCollum owns Home at last Real Estate located in Wells, ME. 

The charges allege that in July 2018, MacCollum showed her clients—a married couple, who speak Spanish but not English—a home in Wells that the couple decided to buy.  MacCollum arranged for a $294,000 mortgage by submitting a loan application that falsely represented the couple’s income. MacCollum also submitted a forged letter purporting to be from his accountant verifying the income information.  

In late September 2018, after all the paperwork had been signed but before escrow closed, the couple returned to the home and learned that it was not for sale, but that the sale was actually for a home nearby with a similar address.  MacCollum promised to correct the problem and convinced the couple to let the sale go through. Within days, MacCollum found them a second home to buy. Reyes arranged for another mortgage, for $262,000, by submitting another false application and forged letter to the lender.  For both sales, MacCollum earned over $25,000 in commissions and fees.  

The investigation was conducted by the District Attorney’s Real Estate Fraud Unit after the victims learned, a year later, that the first sale had not been corrected and that they were still responsible for its mortgage.   If convicted, MacCollum faces up to three years and eight months in state prison.