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Marlin man indicted on federal charges for loan scam
A Marlin man has been indicted on federal wire fraud charges after Marlin police linked him to swindling an elderly woman in a student loan scam.
An official in the Marlin Police Department said that the 75-year-old Marlin woman reported to the police department that a student loan company began sending her letters saying that she had defaulted on repaying a $25,000 loan. She told police she had not taken out the loan, and that the company was demanding she make monthly payments of more than $400 to repay the loan, which had risen to $44,000 with interest.
Over the course of a six-month investigation, police traced the loan back to Alondo Waters, 46, who went to church with the woman. Police said in 2007, Waters approached the woman and said he was trying to secure grants to rebuild the church.
“She has a little bit of diminished capacity, and he told her his credit was bad so he wanted her to sign for the grants instead,” the official said. “She went ahead and signed it, not knowing what it was.”
Waters wrote on the loan application that he was enrolling at the University of Texas at Arlington, but he never did, police said. Waters did enroll at the University of Phoenix online, but never paid tuition and was dropped from the school.
Waters told the student loan company that he would begin making payments to buy more time, but never did.
Marlin police turned the case over the Secret Service because federal wire fraud charges are more severe than state charges. Waters turned himself in to the U.S. Marshal’s Office in downtown Waco once charges were filed.
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