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Easton Man Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Distressed Homeowners, Evading Taxes

EASTON, Conn. -- A 65-year-old former Easton man with a long criminal past and slew of aliases pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges of fraud and tax evasion, authorities said.

Timothy Burke, formerly of Easton pleaded guilty today to federal charges of tax evasion and wire fraud, according to Deirdre M. Daly, U.S. attorney for Connecticut.

Timothy Burke, formerly of Easton pleaded guilty today to federal charges of tax evasion and wire fraud, according to Deirdre M. Daly, U.S. attorney for Connecticut.

Photo Credit: File

Timothy W. Burke, who goes by the various street names of “Bill Burke,” “William Burke,” “Kerry Saunders,” “Pat Riley,” “Jim Caldwell,” “Jim Saunders,” “Tom Morrisey,” “Jimmy,” “Phil Burke,” “Phil,” “Burt,” “James Burke,” made the plea in a Hartford court, according to Deirdre M. Daly, U.S. attorney for Connecticut.

The offenses stemming from a long-running fraud scheme that targeted distressed homeowners, said Daly.

Court documents and statements in court from 2010 to November 2015 allege that Burke engaged in a scheme to defraud individuals, mortgage lenders and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development by falsely representing to homeowners who were in, or facing, foreclosure on their homes that he would purchase their homes and pay off their mortgages. 

The homeowners agreed to sign various documents, including quitclaim deeds, indemnification agreements, management agreements and third party authorization letters, Burke gave them with the understanding that, by signing the documents, they would be able to walk away from their homes without the burdens of their mortgage or other costs associated with home ownership, according to Daly.

Burke also told homeowners that the process of negotiating with the lenders can take time and that, in the meantime, to ignore any notices regarding foreclosure, Daly said.

After he gained control of these houses, Burke rented out the properties to tenants by advertising the properties on craigslist.com and other means, and falsely representing to tenants that he was the owner of the property, according to Daly.

Burke or one of his agents then collected rent from tenants in person, and Burke used the funds for his own benefit, said Daly.

Burke failed to negotiate with the homeowners’ mortgage lender or pay expenses associated with the home, including the homeowners' mortgages and property taxes, and he failed to pay any rental income he was collecting to the homeowners, according to Daly.

Many of the properties Burke purportedly purchased were ultimately foreclosed upon by the mortgage lender.

He undertook extensive efforts to disguise his true identity and hide his criminal past from his victims through the use of multiple aliases and business entities, and to conceal the sources of and expenditures from his criminal proceeds, said Daly.

Burke has been associated with multiple entities, including Quality Asset Management Services, LLC; Birmingham Investments, LLC; the Birmingham Group of Companies; Saunders Associates; New Haven Investments; Realty Partners Group; Preston Associates II; Landlord Maintenance Services, LLC; Turnkey Construction Services LLC; The Complete Handyman, LLC; and Woodbridge Associates.

In addition, between 1994 and 2012, Burke evaded paying approximately $403,726 in federal taxes, according to Daly.

In 2002,  he was indicted by a federal grand jury in New Jersey on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud, and equity skimming. 

Burke subsequently pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit both equity skimming and mail fraud, and he was sentenced to 60 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. 

Burke was released from federal custody in approximately August 2007 and began his federal supervised release at that time. 

A condition of his release was that he refrain from employment in the real estate business or mortgage industry. 

Based on his motion for early termination of his supervised release, the New Jersey federal court terminated his supervised release approximately one year early in August 2009.

Today, Burke pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years, and one count of tax evasion, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years. 

He remains in jail since his Nov. 19, 2015 arrest.

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