Cedar Rapids Landlord Sentenced to Prison for Fraud

On Monday, September 27, 2010, Mark W. Bennett, a U.S. District Court Judge, sentenced an Iowa landlord to prison on counts of fraud and perjury.

Robert Miell, the 56-year-old landlord, owns hundreds of rental properties throughout Cedar Rapids. He previously pleaded guilty to 18 counts of mail fraud, two counts of perjury involving an insurance scam, two counts of filing false federal tax returns, and defrauding his renters.

At the beginning of the year, a jury convicted Miell of federal perjury for filing false tax returns. He did not report insurance payments as income on his tax returns. In addition, an insurance company filed a civil lawsuit against Miell. They claimed he got paid for roof repairs he never completed. Prosecutors claimed he filed insurance claim forms on 145 roofs that had hail damage. Miell claimed he had paid to fix the roofs, but he had only paid for 30 roofs. This insurance scam started in December 2001 and continued for a year. Because of this, he was accused of filing false tax returns since he did not report this income.

He also defrauded his renters by keeping the damage deposits between the years 2000 and 2007 through deceptive measures.

This Iowa landlord was sentenced to 20 years in prison for financial fraud and all the other counts mentioned above.

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