Federal charges dropped against mortgage broker

Federal bank fraud and wire fraud charges filed against a 57-year-old West Glacier woman were dismissed without prejudice in U.S. District Court in Missoula on Sept. 20.

Deanna McAtee, owner of The Mortgage Source, Inc., had faced up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine and five years of supervised release for the bank fraud charge.

Federal prosecutor Timothy Racicot moved to dismiss the indictment “in order to afford the United States an opportunity to re-evaluate the continuing federal interest in this prosecution and the nature and quality of the evidence, in light of recent developments.”

According to the May 2 indictment, which included two bank fraud charges and one wire fraud charge, the case involved a property on Elk Park Road, in the Columbia Falls area, The Mortgage Source, Inc. and Whitefish Credit Union.

The credit union sued McAtee in Flathead County District Court in March 2011 seeking a sheriff’s sale of the property. The credit union claimed McAtee did not pay the $523,479 she owed on the July 1, 2011, accelerated due date.

The credit union also claimed a trustee sale of the property held in November 2010 was invalid and that McAtee used the trustee sale to obtain title to the property by claiming to be the beneficiary when the credit union actually was the beneficiary.

The case eventually wound up in federal bankruptcy court in January 2012 after McAtee filed a voluntary Chapter 7 petition in July 2011. The credit union filed a complaint in November to stop discharge of the debt.

The wire fraud charge referred to a $33,052 loan McAtee brokered in a separate transaction between a person in California and a person in Montana.