When state regulators showed up at Samantha Johnson's mortgage company, she had already stolen her first house.

She had forged documents to fleece lenders. She had skimmed money off a customer's loan. She had lied to conceal 19 questionable mortgages.

Florida regulators caught all of that, but they didn't revoke her license or call for a criminal investigation.

Instead, they fined her $4,300 -- less than the commission on a single mortgage -- and made her promise to stop breaking the law.

Case closed.

Back on the prowl, Johnson went on to steal $2.5 million in loans and nine more homes -- including one from a recently widowed, disabled Vietnam veteran and another from a blind, 79-year old woman with Alzheimer's disease.

Read the complete story, and series at miamiherald.com