Utah Man Sentenced In WV Scheme

{Charleston, West Virginia}…Fifty-one year old Raymond Morris of South Weber, Utah, was sentenced Monday in federal court in Charleston to four years and nine months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud after pleading guilty in July. Court records show that, in 2006, Morris and another defendant, Michael Hurd of Salt Lake City, were involved in a multimillion-dollar scheme with Deborah L. Joyce of Hurricane to sell property in a Hurricane subdivision at inflated prices. Federal prosecutors say six defendants were sentenced in the scheme that reaped nearly $2 million in lost equity from defrauded lenders in less than two years. Joyce was sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison. Hurd was sentenced to two years and three months.