Buyer in mortgage scam gets two-year sentence

A straw buyer in a Jose Guzman-led scheme to defraud mortgage lenders was given two years in prison today in Hartford's U.S. District Court.

Judge Alfred V. Covello handed out the sentence, which will be followed by two years of supervised relief, to 26-year-old Angel Urena, formerly of Ashley, Penn.

Urena played the part of a buyer in two New London transactions and another in Killingly, according to prosecutors. He let Guzman, a Waterford resident who has yet to be sentenced for his role in the scheme, use his Social Security number and other information to fill out loan documents, but never intended to live in the dwellings.

According to prosecutors, Urena walked away from the deals with $24,000. Judge Covello ordered Urena to pay $352,676.44 in restitution and to forfeit $24,600.