Prince George's County, Md. - A pair of con artists scammed Prince George's County homeowners out of roughly a million dollars, according to a statement from State's Attorney Glenn Ivey.

Ivey's office has charged two defendants, Leon T. Coleman and mortgage broker Katie Ridley, with theft and perjury after allegedly swindling eleven Prince George's County residents who purchased homes they were told would be built in the Kings Grant subdivision on White House Road. The victims were directed by one defendant to the other defendant at Worldwide Financial Services, who then arranged construction financing for each victim. In the process, she committed several acts of perjury on official documents, Ivey's office says, and was paid by each victim for the financing services.

No homes were, in fact, under construction, and no construction permits were ever obtained by the defendants, though the victims were told for months that the construction was ongoing as they were going broke paying for a house they would never see.

Most of the victims' loans were foreclosed and they lost both the properties and the money that they had invested in them.

The Maryland Attorney General pursued a civil complaint against the defendants, and the resulting ruling against them demanded that they repay the money they had taken from the victims, as well as legal fees and fines. They have not complied with that ruling.

In addition, the floor plans that the defendants showed to the victims, the State's Attorney alleges, did not actually belong to them, but had been taken from another builder.

And Ivey also notes that a study commissioned by the victims has indicated that a number of the lots are in a flood zone or have problems associated with wetlands.

Two years ago the attorney general order Coleman to pay everybody back; he has not done so.

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