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
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