Burlco woman charged with mortgage fraud

A Vincentown woman was charged Thursday with wire fraud and impersonating an FBI agent and IRS officer in what authorities described as a mortgage-fraud scheme, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said.

Tammi Haines, 40, who has been in custody on unrelated charges since June, appeared in federal court Thursday to face charges that she forged a signature on a $393,000 mortgage on a Tennessee property. She listed false information about the victim's finances, officials said.

Haines took some of about $149,000 that a closing agent sent to the victim's account, which Haines controlled, officials said. She also is accused of posing as an FBI agent and claiming in a letter that the agency was investigating the victim. She also posed as an IRS agent in writing a letter claiming that the fraud victim had no tax liability, officials said. - Darran Simon