Back in September of 2010, Jason and Melinda Pond of Spring Hill applied for assistance through the Hernando County Neighborhood Stabilization Program. They were approved to receive a $49,650 loan for a home they purchased for $110,000. Later it was discovered that they omitted several assets in order to receive the loan as well as neglecting to mention a past SHIP loan for a different property they owned on Omaha Circle.
The case was investigated by HUD Special Agent Quartapella and Federal charges were filed.
United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley III announced this week that Jason Pond, 38, pleaded guilty to “making a false statement in an application to obtain a United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) loan.”
To alleviate high rates of abandoned and foreclosed homes in an area, HUD developed the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The program assists households whose annual incomes are up to 120 percent of the area median. If Pond had lived in the home for more than 15 years, then he would not have had to repay the loan.
However, by not disclosing income he earned through a DJ business as well as the two cars and a boat he owned, he his now facing a sentence of up to 5 years in a federal prison.