Former Fla. Appeals Judge Charged in Mortgage Fraud Case

In a sad day for a man who made history as the first black graduate of Stetson University's law school and the first black judge in his county's circuit court, a former Florida appellate judge was criminally charged today with mortgage fraud.

The filing in federal court in Tampa also includes a plea agreement in which Thomas Stringer Sr. is to plead guilty to one count of bank fraud, reports the St. Petersburg Times. The case has nothing to do with his work on the Hillsborough County Circuit Court bench and the 2nd District Court of Appeal, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Although the charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years, it appears unlikely that Stringer would be sentenced to any prison time because the loan has been repaid in full, the newspaper reports. It concerns a Hawaii investment home he reportedly purchased with a stripper with whom he has been friendly for well over a decade; Stringer is accused of falsely stating on a loan application that no one else was providing a down payment when in fact an unidentified third party allegedly did.

As discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post, a judicial ethics case was filed against Stringer earlier this year for allegedly helping Christy Yamanaka conceal assets from creditors and accepting unreported gifts. He subsequently resigned from the bench, but he has denied doing anything improper, although he reportedly acknowledged a friendship and business dealings with the New York City stripper.

The ethics and criminal cases resulted from a complaint by Yamanaka that the judge owed her money, according to the newspaper.