Shenandoah Adams Sr., also known as “Shane Adams Sr.,” is 56 years old and lives in New Providence, New Jersey. He admitted today to committing wire fraud and making false reports and statements to and for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the United States Postal Service (USPS).
Case of Shenandoah Adams Sr.- Acknowleding his Fraud
According to the statements made in court and the documents that were submitted in this case:
Adams was a principal in the company known as Adams Property Management and Investment Group LLC (Adams Property Management), which made an investment in real estate on Hilton Street in East Orange, New Jersey, in the year 2014.
The following year, Adams made arrangements for a close associate to obtain a loan from a mortgage lender in the amount of $153,562 in order to purchase the Hilton Street property from Adams Property Management.
Adams’s arrangement was successful. After the associate’s mortgage payments on the property located on Hilton Street fell significantly behind schedule, Adams arranged for the associate to sell the property to another associate for the price of $255,000 so that the associate would not be further in arrears.
On May 31, 2016, the closing on that sale got underway; as of that date, the total amount needed to pay off the first associate’s mortgage, including interest and fees, was $210,565. On June 1, 2016, Adams and the first associate participated in a telephone conversation with the mortgage servicer for the lender of the associate’s property. During this conversation, Adams made dishonest and fraudulent statements in an attempt to convince the lender to reduce the payoff amount.
The associate’s payoff amount was reduced to $190,000 after the lender’s agreement to do so. Adams instructed the associate to cash the check for the amount of the reduction, which was $20,665, and deliver the cash proceeds to Adams. The associate followed Adams’s instructions and did so.
Adams was also a principal at VH Electrical and Plumbing LLC, which the company was a member of. Adams, acting on behalf of VH, entered into a contract with the Orange Public Library on March 11, 2015, with the intention of replacing the HVAC/chiller unit in the library at a cost of $49,000.
The project was made possible thanks to a Community Development Block Grant that was awarded to Orange and the library by the HUD. Adams deceived a library representative by sending them some paperwork, giving them the impression that Adams was taking action to order a replacement chiller when in reality, Adams was just giving them the impression. Adams was given $40,000 by the library, but he did not use the money to replace the chiller in the library.
The charge of wire fraud carries with it the potential for a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison and a maximum fine of two hundred fifty thousand dollars. Making false reports and statements to HUD is a charge that carries a maximum potential sentence of one year in prison as well as a maximum potential fine of one hundred thousand dollars. The date of sentencing has been set for September 29th, 2022.
Before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, Adams Sr. entered a guilty plea to one count of an indictment charging him with wire fraud and an information charging him with one count of making false reports and statements to and for HUD. Both charges stemmed from the same investigation.
Philip R. Sellinger, a solicitor, was the one who broke the news.
U.S. Attorney Sellinger attributed the investigation that led to today’s guilty plea to special agents of the FBI working under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark and special agents of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General working under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christina Scaringi.
Assistant United States Attorney Cari Fais, Chief of the Opioid Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Unit, along with Assistant United States Attorneys J Fortier Imbert and Sara F. Merin of the Special Prosecutions Division of the United States Attorney’s Office are defending the interests of the government in this case.
