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Spring Hill man pleads guilty to defrauding housing program

 
Published Jan. 21, 2016

SPRING HILL — A man pleaded guilty in federal court last week to making false statements to obtain a loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.

Jason and Melinda Pond bought their Spring Hill home in 2010 for $110,000, sheriff's officials said. They applied for a loan through the county's HUD-backed Neighborhood Stabilization Program — designed to provide emergency relief to homeowners in communities destabilized by high rates of abandonment and foreclosure — and received almost $50,000.

Investigators said Jason Pond lied on the application about his and his wife's debts, assets, employment, income and tax returns. Investigators said he didn't disclose that he had income from his disc jockey business, that he and his wife owned two cars, and that he had received money from another government program to buy a different house.

Pond will be sentenced at a later date. He faces up to five years in federal prison.

Times staff