FIRST ON 3: Former sheriff’s son, three others sentenced in mortgage fraud case

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The son of former New Hanover County Sheriff Sid Causey will spend 18 months in prison for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme. Brian Causey, 37, also forfeited $250,000.

Yesterday a federal judge sentenced Causey’s three co-defendants. Horace Hance Mayo III of Wrightsville Beach received four months in prison and 120 days home detention with electronic monitoring. Michael Paul Fluharty of Little River, SC, received six months behind bars. Tyrone Ford of Wilmington, received a 15-month prison sentence.

The four men pleaded guilty in August to one count of conspiring to commit wire and mail fraud. The US Attorney says the charge goes back to a 1990 land deal in Columbus County in which Causey, Mayo, Fluharty and Ford submitted false information on loan applications for low-income purchasers who did not qualify for any type of government-backed mortgage.