By Rachel Pleasant
Staff Writer

Five of Charleston’s real estate professionals are in hot water after federal prosecutors filed an indictment earlier this month claiming the group orchestrated an elaborate scheme worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The indictment, filed in the Charleston division of the U.S. District Court Aug. 10, alleges a conspiracy involving Tom Cannon, a loan originator at Direct Mortgage and AAA Mortgage in Charleston; Samantha Watford, vice president of Direct Mortgage and a loan originator at both that company and AAA Mortgage; Anne Dodson, a real estate agent and owner of Associated Realtors in Summerville; Jeffrey Spell, a real estate attorney and owner of Lowcountry Title Services in North Charleston; and Ralph Miller, who was described in the indictment as a businessman.

The indictment alleges a handful of shady deals that took place between Jan. 2002 and Jan. 2004.

The first deal listed in the indictment involved the property at 35 Cypress St., which was near foreclosure.

The indictment alleges that Dodson created a fake listing agreement to make it seem as if an unidentified co-conspirator—of which there are several, though none are listed in the filing—was selling his home. That sale would make the co-conspirator capable of buying the 35 Cypress St. property.

In the sale to the co-conspirator, $9,239.55 was taken from the seller, who is not named in the indictment, to be used for repairs to the property. Those repairs were never made, however, and Dodson, Cannon and Watford split the money among themselves, the indictment alleges.

To cover up the fact they had pocketed the money, Dodson created fake repair invoices as proof repairs were actually made, according to the filing.

Furthermore, prosecutors allege that Spell falsified paperwork involved with the sale, in which he indicated that the co-conspirator brought $11,019.31 to the closing and the seller received $44,323.88 at the closing—the difference between the purchase price and the amount to pay off the seller’s mortgage.

In fact, the co-conspirator brought nothing to the closing, and the seller didn’t get a dime during that transaction. The $44,323 the seller supposedly received was divided between Miller, the co-conspirator and the son of the owner of 35 Cypress St., the indictment alleges.

Two months later, 35 Cypress St. was sold again, this time for a $75,000 profit, despite the fact no repairs had been done.

In a transaction involving property at 432 Sumter St., the indictment alleges that Miller convinced a co-conspirator to purchase the property and agreed to be a silent partner in the mortgage.

Cannon allegedly interviewed the co-conspirator for the loan application and completed the loan application. He also is alleged to have inflated the co-conspirator’s income in order for the co-conspirator to qualify for the loan.

Miller, Spell and the co-conspirator, meanwhile, inflated the price of the 432 Sumter St. property by $35,000, money that would be used for making repairs. Like the Cypress Street deal, that money was not used for repairs, according to the indictment, and Miller and the co-conspirator kept the cash for their personal use.

The property was eventually foreclosed on, as Miller and the coconspirator never made a payment on the mortgage, the indictment says.

The final piece of this alleged conspiracy involves a property at 289 Sumter St.

Miller, Watford, Dodson, Spell and a co-conspirator “devised a scheme where the purchase price of 289 Sumter St. was increased by approximately $123,110.61 for the stated purpose of making repairs,” the indictment says.

Instead of making those repairs, Miller, Dodson, Watford and the co-conspirator allegedly divided the money and kept much of it themselves, though some of it was used to make mortgage payments on the 289 Sumter St. property.

A year later the 289 Sumter St. property went into foreclosure when Miller and the co-conspirator defaulted on the payments.

Mortgages on the properties involved in these schemes were written by California-based WMC Mortgage and Maryland-based Fieldstone Mortgage and totaled $874,272.

Of that amount, Cannon, Miller, Watford, Dodson and Spell allegedly pocketed $286,674.04.

Rhett DeHart, the prosecutor handling the case, declined to comment.

Cannon, Miller, Watford, Dodson and Spell will be arraigned Aug. 24. They could receive five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and three years probation.

Messages left at the offices of Spell, Dodson, Watford and Cannon were not returned. Miller also could not be reached.

According to the South Carolina Bar, Spell is an active member in good standing. No one from the Bar could be reached to answer how Spell’s membership may be affected by the indictment.

The Charleston Trident Association of Realtors released a statement regarding Dodson’s membership.

“At this time we feel it is inappropriate to comment, as this is a legal matter and one the courts will decide,” says Terry Hyde Ketchem, executive vice president of CTAR, adding that until the association has “complete details on the situation, no action will be taken.”

Rachel Pleasant is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at rpleasant@charlestonbusiness.com.

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