A plea hearing has been scheduled for a third man accused in a $4.2 million mortgage fraud conspiracy that involved the Cape Coral police chief’s son.
Troy Bossert, 32, of San Antonio, Texas, will go before U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell at 11 a.m., April 6, at the U.S. Courthouse, located at 2110 First St. in Fort Myers. Bossert entered into a plea deal March 3 with federal prosecutors for one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
Four others entered into the same plea deal, including 35-year-old Stephen Petrovich, 32-year-old Steven Reese, 28-year-old Tyler Forrey and 34-year-old Ryan O’Brien, all of Cape Coral. Petrovich is the son of Cape Coral Police Chief Rob Petrovich and a former detective for the Cape police.
The plea hearings for Petrovich and Reese were set this week, but were rescheduled due to a funeral, according to Steve Cole, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office Middle District of Florida. Reese will go before Chappell at 10 a.m. Tuesday, and Petrovich is scheduled to follow Reese at 11 a.m.
As of Tuesday, March 16, no plea hearings had been set for Forrey or O’Brien.
The men operated a “cash-out” mortgage fraud scheme in the Cape from 2007-08 that involved eight properties, according to documents from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Middle District of Florida. They reported “inflated sales prices to lenders and falsified applications for loans based on the higher prices, then pocketed the excess loan proceeds at closing.”
All five each face up to 20 years in federal prison, fines up to $500,000, some term of supervised release and up to $200 in special assessments.
Stephen Petrovich resigned from the CCPD in November after being placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the federal investigation. He had been with the agency for 11 years. He was assigned to the Property and Financial Crimes section and his salary was $64,084 when he resigned.
CCPD Sgt. James O’Brien was also placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation. O’Brien has worked for the department for 10 years. He became a sergeant with the Special Operations Unit in 2006 and his annual salary is $68,244.
O’Brien remained on administrative duty Tuesday, according to Cape police spokeswoman Connie Barron.
Cole confirmed that the federal investigation is still an open investigation.