Good afternoon Wayzata, Orono and Long Lake, I'm Sun-Sailor Community Editor Jared Huizenga. Today is Friday, Feb. 13, and here's what's going on in your area today.
• A 25-year-old mortgage broker from Wayzata will spend the next 16 months in prison for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme.
Johnny Nguyen was sentenced yesterday in federal court for one count of mail fraud and one count of money laundering. In addition to prison time, Nguyen received three years of supervised release.
Nguyen was charged on May 7, 2008 and pleaded guilty on May 29.
According to his plea agreement, Nguyen "devised a scheme to defraud and obtain money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses while working as a mortgage broker at St. Joseph Financial in 2006."
Along with others involved in the scheme, Nguyen would provide lenders with false information, including overstated purchase prices and the misrepresentation of the financial qualifications of borrowers.
While not often a party to the transactions, Nguyen received concealed payments between $13,000 and $70,000 per transaction, receiving nearly $500,000 in all.
In addition to the concealed payments, Nguyen and St. Joseph Financial received "above-market" broker fees for arranging the fraudulent transactions.
In all, the scheme involved 14 real estate transactions, which totaled nearly $7 million in mortgage proceeds and $1 million in fraudulent payments, according to a release from U.S. Attorney's Office.
• The City of Wayzata has announced that the warming house at Klapprich Park will close today.
Additionally, the city's Public Works crew will no longer be maintaining the ice, due to deteriorating ice conditions.
While it might seem a little early for outdoor ice skating to end, this year is proving to be just about average.
According to the city's website, the rink normally closes on Feb. 15. It also notes that the average number of days with usable ice is 60 and this year there have been 53 days.
Long Lake City Clerk Jeanette Moeller said this morning that the ice rink at Holbrook Park is still open for now. The weather has left it unskateable right now, but a final call on whether it will remain open or not has not been made.
A call this morning to Orono to check on the status of its rinks has not been returned.
• The Wayzata Bay Center and its merchants will host a free family carnival 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14, at the shopping center, the corner of Lake Street and Superior Boulevard.
The event will include free popcorn, prizes, a moonwalk and games, including a bean bag toss, crazy car, duck pond, milk bottle toss, ring toss, snowball, strike zone, plinko and pin the tail on the donkey.
Information: www.wayzatabaycenter.com.
• Long Lake Mayor Randy Gilbert announced this morning that his monthly "Mayor's Coffee Club" will resume this weekend after taking a short winter break.
The coffee club will get underway at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Long Lake Caribou Coffee, 2073 West Wayzata Boulevard.
This is a great opportunity to chat with the Mayor, friends and neighbors about the Long Lake community, and to ask any questions you may have about recent and future City Council actions.
Gilbert began hosting monthly picnics in May 2007 as a way to engage community members and hear about issues within the city. In the winter, Gilbert kept the practice up by hosting a monthly coffee club.
• At the state capitol today, West-metro lawmakers discussed the importance of the federal economic-recovery plan to the area. Mnsun.com editor Greg Huff filed this report:
Just a reminder that most city and school offices will be closed on Monday for President's Day.
For Wayzata Today and mnsun.com, I'm Jared Huizenga and I'll see you next week.
<< Back to article
