A Tamarac, Fla., man scammed tens of thousands of dollars from three homeowners who were falling behind on their monthly payments during the mortgage crisis, investigators say.
Michael Anthony Haynes is accused of persuading the homeowners to donate their homes to a "trust" he ran and then pay him rent. In turn, he would get them their homes "free and clear" after three to five years, according to a Broward Sheriff's arrest report.
Instead, Haynes, 52, made off with more than $43,000 of the homeowners' money, the report said.
The plot started taking shape in 2012, according to the report.
Investigators say Haynes told the three homeowners that he ran the Michael Anthony Haynes Charitable Remains Trust IRA Corporation. Haynes told them to stop paying their mortgages and ignore any notices from their banks about foreclosure. He promised he would take care of everything, according to the report.
Besides paying him rent, Haynes also got the homeowners to pay him $1,500 to $2,000 for "forensic reports" on their mortgages.
But after two to three years of rent payments, two of the victims had their banks foreclose their homes. The third homeowner managed to get their deed back from Haynes with the help of a lawyer, but still had to deal with a foreclosure, investigators said.
It's unclear how Haynes was eventually tracked down, but he was taken into custody Tuesday in another state and brought back to Broward County. He was booked into jail on three counts of grand theft and released Friday on bonds totaling $30,000.
Efforts to reach Haynes for comment were not successful.
