Lawyer sentenced to jail in mortgage assistance fraud

PONTIAC (AP) - A lawyer accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from people in Michigan that were facing mortgage foreclosures has been sentenced to a year in jail.

Steven Barry Ruza of Orchard Lake and his company Home Legal Group pleaded earlier pleaded guilty. The office of Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette says the 52-year-old Ruza was sentenced last Friday to jail followed by five years of probation.

Ruza was ordered to pay more than $445,000 in restitution. Schuette's office says there are already nearly 300 victims and Ruza could be ordered to pay more as a final number is determined.

Schuette says Ruza and Home Legal Group promised people they could obtain mortgage modifications and save their homes from foreclosure but then did nothing, or very little, to obtain mortgage modifications.

Published: Tue, Dec 22, 2015