U.S. attorney busy with border issues, mortgage fraud

As if border security and immigration issues weren't keeping the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona busy enough, mortgage fraud has become epidemic, according to Dennis Burke, who assumed the office just seven weeks ago.

A great deal of attention is also being placed on violent crime on Native American lands, Burke told the Yuma Sun while in Yuma Monday to meet with local law enforcement officers.

There's also been a major upswing in bank robberies, he said.

"It takes a certain kind of person to rob banks," said Burke. "It's not just for the money."

For example, noted Joseph Lodge, assistant U.S. attorney, one case that is going to trial involves a perpetrator who just got out of prison after 16 years, put together a team and went back to robbing banks.

Predominately, though, the office's case load is driven by the international border and border security, Burke said. That includes drug trafficking and human smuggling into the United States or the attempted smuggling of money and guns southbound into Mexico. There's also the issue of corruption among federal officers placed on the border who face tremendous temptations.

And especially in the Phoenix area, there's been "a huge of rash of home invasion ... of a magnitude never seen before," he said. But it's also very targeted, he added, occurring among rival groups of drug traffickers and human smugglers with no regard for human life.

In southern Arizona, the larger issue is that of rollovers of vehicles carrying large numbers of people, he said. The goal seems to be to get to Phoenix, where the people think they can blend in with the larger population and it's also the hub to other destinations.

Burke said he's been told the routes are controlled by the drug traffickers. Human smugglers either pay for the use of the route or they're being used as a cover for drug traffic.

The thought is that if stopped, the human smugglers will divert attention away from the drug traffickers, he said.

Currently, a lot of attention is being given to southbound traffic, Burke said. "It's kind of a mixed message. Mexico has pounded the U.S. for the guns and money going south. But there seems to be an unending ability to grow marijuana in Mexico."

While what goes on between Mexico and the U.S. drives much of the work of the U.S. Attorney's Office, mortgage fraud is gaining a lot of attention, Burke said.

He said it goes back to the real estate boom when banks were extremely lenient in their lending. That created an environment that was ripe for fraud.

There was a lot of effort by schemers, perhaps involving appraisers or even lending officials, to ask homebuyers for more money than the actual cost of the house, he said. "They would pocket the difference and disappear."

Prosecuting mortgage fraud is presenting some challenges, he said. "We don't have a long history of them and they involve very complex documents. We're hoping to win some cases pretty dramatically."

That would send a message to defense attorneys, he said.

Burke said while in Yuma he met with Yuma County Sheriff Ralph Ogden, Yuma Police Chief Jerry Geier and Yuma County Attorney Jon Smith.

"The relationship here between federal and local officials is probably the best in the state," Burke said. He said the local officials didn't raise any particular concerns, other than the ongoing ones involving the border.

That's something he's had considerable experience with both on the state and federal levels over the last 20 years.

Most recently, he was a senior advisor to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Prior to that, he served as chief of staff for Napolitano from 2003 to 2008 while she was the governor.

His previous experiences include serving as the chief deputy attorney general in the Arizona Attorney's Office. Burke is a former assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona prosecuting drug trafficking cases, was the assistant attorney general for legislative affairs at the U.S. Department of Justice, a senior policy analyst for the White House Domestic Policy Council during the Clinton Administration and a majority counsel for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

He graduated from Georgetown University in 1985 and received a law degree in 1988 from University of Arizona, College of Law in Tucson. After law school, Burke was a clerk for the Honorable James Moeller on the Arizona Supreme Court. He was also an adjunct professor of law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.

Burke was nominated by President Barack Obama in July, was confirmed by unanimous consent by the U.S. Senate on Sept. 15 and sworn into office the next day.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona has about 177 employees in Phoenix, 108 in Tucson, six in Flagstaff and five in Yuma.

Joyce Lobeck can be reached at jlobeck@yumasun.com or 539-6853.