AKRON, OH (WOIO)- An Akron man was sentenced to more than three years in
prison Tuesday and ordered to pay more than $15 million in restitution for his role in
a mortgage fraud scheme in Florida and a separate scheme to defraud two elderly
investors, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern
District of Ohio.

Andrew D. Norman, 36, previously pleaded to three
charges. He admitted to participating in the two schemes and failure to report
his income derived from the scheme against the elderly investors.

Norman and his business partner Jason Herceg conspired
with Jack Coppenger in procuring "straw buyers" and submitting false
loan documents to banks to purchase Coppenger's lots in Florida (which had
already been inflated in value as part of a land flip) in a mortgage fraud
scheme. 

Coppenger, with assistance from
Norman and Herceg, perpetrated a large mortgage fraud scheme involving numerous
straw buyers, who essentially sold their good credit score to Coppenger, in
order for him to secure loans, through straw buyers' names, for property in
Florida. 

Coppenger promised money to the straw buyers if they signed
the loan application and paperwork, that he would make any down payment and all
the mortgage payments for the straw buyers, and that, once the property was
developed, they would receive half the profits from any sale, according to
court documents. 

Norman and Herceg were mentored by Coppenger in how to
recruit and use straw buyers. Norman and Herceg assisted Coppenger by using
their brokerage company, Akron-based V.P. Equity, to prepare and submit
falsified loan documents to the banks, which fraudulently inflated the income
and assets of the straw buyers to qualify them for these loans.

AKRON, OH (WOIO)- Tuesday and Wednesday, City of Akron attorneys will be at different Akron community centers to talk to residents about what they can do if they are on the list of people whose information was compromised by the cyber attack last week.

Attorneys will be able to look up whether citizens are on the list of people whose information was stolen, and they will be able to explain what a person should do to secure their accounts and credit.

The following community centers will have help available from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.:

• Lawton Street Community Center, 1225 Lawton Street
• Patterson Park Community Center, 800 Patterson Avenue
• Firestone Park Community Center, 1480 Girard Street
• Kenmore Community Center, 880 Kenmore Boulevard
• Ellet Community Center, 2449 Wedgewood Drive
• Reservoir Park Community Center, 1735 Hillside Terrace

Also, the City is bringing in extra help to answer the deluge of 311 calls the City has encountered. The City had already added extra manpower and extended its hours at the 311 call center throughout the weekend, but more help is being utilized today.

"We are treating this cyber attack as we would any other attack on the City and its residents," said Mayor Don Plusquellic. "Although we already had extra people manning the 311 phone lines, we are significantly expanding our staffing in the hopes that everyone can get through easily. We are also providing help at our community centers for those people who want to sit down and talk with someone. At this point, we are doing everything we to keep our citizens informed, and we are trying to help them prevent misuse of their sensitive information."