Man Fakes Death to Qualify for Mortgage

By Martin Lukac

Allen Wolford of Colorado came to the conclusion that the only way to qualify for a home mortgage was to die.

The embalmer wanted to purchase a home with his wife, but with $50,000 in debt, he did not qualify. So he made a decision.

His faked death certificate said that he died from cardiac arrest. Wolford is now facing 3 years in prison on forgery, and he still didn't get the mortgage.

The official arrest affidavit shows that Wolford told police that he faked his death in order to rid himself of nearly $50,000 in debts. In fact, almost $42,000 was from child support he had failed to pay.

He is being held without bail in the El Paso County jail on suspicion of forgery and a fugitive warrant from California for parole violation and larceny.

Wolford, who worked for the Evergreen Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, confessed to creating a false death certificate.

"I didn't think I'd get caught. I guess it was pretty stupid," Wolford told police officer Connie Guthrie. He said that he attempted the plan because the lingering debts had disqualified his family from a mortgage loan.

The West Virginia State Child Support Division received an e-mail copy of the phony death with a note saying his wife was not responsible for her deceased husband's back child support.

Wolford told police that his wife didn't know anything about the scheme.

Wolford also sent a copy of the death certificate to the Colorado attorney general's office, since he owed $7,000 in student loans to the state of Colorado.

The agencies that received the death certificate tried to verify it wiht the El Paso County vital statistics office. The office had no record of the certificate on file. They contacted the funeral home listed, who then went to the police.

Wolford will probably not be approved for a mortgage for several years to come, if ever.

Martin Lukac, represents http://www.RateEmpire.com , a finance web-company specializing in real estate/mortgage market. We specialize in daily updates, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more. Find low home loan mortgage interest rates from hundreds of mortgage companies! Visit http://www.RateEmpire.com today