Urbandale Amateur Athlete Mable Before Judge

Dave Mable, a popular amateur athlete around the metro area, was arraigned in federal court Wednesday afternoon on a federal indictment that accuses him and three other men of a conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud.

Mable, 46, of Urbandale, was allowed to remain free on a promise to appear and follow certain conditions, such as not leaving the country.

Although he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Celeste Bremer individually, the indictment accuses Mable, two of his business partners and a mortgage broker of a scheme to inflate property values of homes the partners were trying to fix up and resell.

Bremer tentatively set a trial date of Oct. 31. Mabel's lawyer did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday.

Mable is well known in running and bicycling circles. He and his wife, Dee, are biking and running enthusiasts. Mable worked at the store in Urbandale and taught spinning classes at the Walnut Creek YMCA.

He and his wife conceived and operated a local monthly magazine called Momentum devoted to covering endurance sports in Iowa. 

The U.S. Attorney's office says that Mable, along with Lane Anderson, 37, of Altoona, and Shannon Flickinger, 42, of Earlham, formed a company called LDF Development in March of 2006. The company's business was to purchase homes, renovate them and sell them for a profit.

Within three months the company began to experience financial difficulties, the indictment alleges, because it could not renovate and sell the houses quickly enough to be profitable. 

Between 2006 and 2008, the company purchased 40 homes. Anderson and Mable each purchased at least three properties in their own names in early 2006.

The government alleges that at some point the men decided to transfer 13 properties to Flickinger because he had a better credit score and was more likely to be able to get loans for the properties.

They are also accused of inflating the value of the homes so that there would be extra money in the loans to pay for renovations, loan payments and payments to the partners.

The men worked with mortgage broker Paul Kramer, 41, of Granger.

The government alleges that all four men knew the mortgage applications contained false statements and that they purposefully went to many different lenders so it would be difficult for any single lender to realize the number of loans being taken out in Flickinger's name.

It alleges that all four of the men were aware of the false statements contained in the mortgage applications and that at one point, Anderson falsified an accountant's letter regarding the length of the accountant's relationship with Flickinger in order to be more favorably considered for a mortgage loan.

Anderson and Mable found other "straw buyers" to use to get mortgages on other LDF properties, prosecutors allege.

All four men are accused of one count of wire fraud. The indictment alleges that they received more than $725,000 in mortgage money under false pretenses. Mable is not named specifically in any one of those eight mortgage transactions.

In announcing the indictments on Sept. 15, U.S. Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt said they were the result of investigations through the Iowa Mortgage Fraud Working Group that was announced in December 2010. The FBI, along with the Iowa Attorney General's office and the Iowa Division of Banking were involved.

Kramer, Flickinger and Anderson were all arraigned on Sept. 15, but Mable's court appearance was delayed two weeks.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison or a $1 million fine.