By Scott Beveridge

Staff writer

sbeveridge@observer-reporter.com

Tiffany Lynn Sprouts was primed for a bright future while she attended California University of Pennsylvania, where she was embraced by administrators for her leadership skills.

She was president of Student Congress in 2001, sat on the University Forum and its finance committee and spoke in favor of Cal U. President Angelo Armenti's controversial plan to rename the school Eberly University to honor a wealthy benefactor.

On Tuesday, the university declined comment on Sprouts, a day after she was identified as a central figure in a multimillion-dollar mortgage financing scheme that also involved her father, Marlin Sprouts Jr., 52, a newly elected Uniontown councilman.

The university doesn't comment on such cases, said Cal U. spokeswoman Angela Burrows, who confirmed that Sprouts is a 2003 Cal U. graduate.

Sprouts, 28, who attended Ringgold High School and once lived in Finleyville, pleaded guilty in September to federal charges of money laundering, conspiracy to commit mail, wire and bank fraud and obstruction of justice.

She conspired with a business partner, Michael Pope, to create false mortgage loan documents for straw buyers that cost lending institutions as much as $2.5 million. The scheme also involved fraudulent tax returns and property assessments. The buyers, in turn, received a portion of the loan proceeds, court records show.

In March 2005, she purchased an uninhabitable house and property at 320 Sugar Camp Road in Peters Township, and later directed a straw buyer to obtain a $190,000 mortgage loan to purchase a piece of the real estate, court records show. Other similar deals took place in Pittsburgh.

She also deposited $200,000 in her father's bank account, and added his name to hers, to make it appear as if he had enough assets to qualify for a loan. In some cases, she made monthly mortgage payments to avoid foreclosures, court records indicate.

Also indicted in the case was James A. Spike, 32, of Republic, on accusations he obtained a $521,000 mortgage for a house and then gave $185,000 to Tiffany Sprouts.

Prosecutors said she and Pope took some of the loan proceeds for their own use, as well as to purchase more property to further the scheme. The deals were handled through their businesses, Sprouts Mortgage LLC and Pope Financial Services Inc. of Pleasant Hills.

She is free on $10,000 bond and could be sentenced to up to 25 years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. She also must forfeit property she owns at 942 E. McMurray Road in Peters, and cooperate with the investigation, which continues.

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