Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Southern District of Florida

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Martin County Man Convicted of Bank and Mail Fraud

A Martin County man was convicted yesterday, following a federal jury trial, on charges stemming from his harassment of police officers and the obstruction of civil lawsuits, during the course of extensive bank and mail fraud schemes.  

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

Mark Alan Yoder, 55, of Hobe Sound, was charged by indictment with five counts of bank fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344; and four counts of mail fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1341.  Yoder was convicted on all counts of the indictment and faces a statutory maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison and/or a $1,000,000 fine.  A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.  Sentencing will be imposed by Senior United States District Judge Paul C. Huck in Fort Pierce. 

According to trial testimony and court documents, Yoder carried out bank and mail fraud schemes.  On October 18, 2010, Yoder received a traffic citation, for driving without a seat belt, from a Tequesta Police Department Officer.  Yoder objected to the ticket, demanded to speak to a supervisor and denied the officer had any authority for the stop. The officer’s supervisor arrived on the scene to provide assistance.  Beginning in the months following the traffic stop and into early 2011, Yoder sent, by mail, a succession of fraudulent formal demands and notices, claiming the two police officers and the Tequesta Police Department each owed him $150,000 in damages.  Yoder also sent similar demands for large damage payments to officers and executives of the bank that was foreclosing upon his home.  Not long after the final judgment of foreclosure was entered in the state court, Yoder filed a fraudulent mechanic’s lien against the bank’s property, falsely claiming that he was owed thousands of dollars for his maintenance of the home prior to the foreclosure.  Yoder renewed the fraudulent mechanic’s lien, with successive filings, in 2014 and 2015.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI.  Mr. Ferrer also thanked the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, the Tequesta Police Department, and the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Martin County, Florida, for their assistance with this investigation.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Theodore Cooperstein and Kerry Baron.   

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.