Professor indicted, sentenced one year

Pamela Holder, an associate professor in the MTSU School of Nursing and the former director of the statewide Regents Online Degree Program, was sentenced to a year a day in prison last Friday for her part in a multimillion dollar mortgage scheme.

Holder was convicted for bank and wire fraud charges during a trial in April and was originally indicted on four counts for executing a material scheme with intent to defraud and obtain funds from the Bank of Nashville and First Tennessee Bank, as well as obtaining loan proceeds for personal benefit through false pretenses.

“Mortgage fraud is a serious crime, and we are pleased that the court has imposed an appropriately serious sentence in this case,” said United States Attorney Edward Yarbrough in a recent press release. “The United States Attorney’s Office and our law-enforcement partners will continue to investigate such frauds and bring those who commit them to justice.”

 Holder, along with those also charged, allegedly used a straw buyer scam in which they would find a buyer with a good credit score and solicit them into borrowing $2.4 million to purchase a $1.5 million home.

Holder would then prepare or send false documents claiming, among other things, that the buyer was the president of “Team Fat Man,” an automotive sales company owned by Holder’s deceased husband, which greatly inflated the status of the straw buyer’s income.

Holder was able to qualify the buyer for larger loans that the buyer could afford – and when the buyer was unable to make the mortgage payments of around $10,000, the mortgage defaulted and foreclosed upon.

My Harrison, the special agent in charge for the FBI Memphis division said the bureau is diligently working to protect residents from future criminal schemes.

“The FBI will continue to target those who criminally manipulate our financial system for personal gain and keep working to bring criminals like this to justice to ensure that they pay for their crimes,” Harrison said in a recent press release.

Tom Tozer, director of News and Public Affairs for MTSU, said Holder was put in a non-teaching position at the university. Holder, however, remains an active employee of the university.

“While the university felt it important to take swift action [regarding her employment], it was decided that the institution should wait until the legal process had run its course before taking any action related to revoking tenure or terminating employment,” Tozer said. “Upon receiving confirmation of Dr. Holder’s sentencing on Monday, the university immediately began taking formal action to address her employment status with MTSU.”

Tozer said discussions regarding the university’s options regarding her continued employment began immediately following Holder’s conviction.

• Facebook Comments
• Site Comments

4 comments

Kelly

Thu Nov 19 2009 16:49

I checked out Holder's salary in the database of public employees. She was already making $87,000 a year, base pay. Most of the people who teach at MTSU would kill to have a salary that high, but it wasn't enough for her.

She's a criminal and should be fired.

But then, this university has a history of allowing higher-ups to stay on after they've done something illegal or embarrassing to the university.

My Name

Thu Nov 19 2009 08:41

Tozer states that the University began "discussions" regarding possible options immediately after Holder's conviction. She was convicted in APRIL. It's now November; it's been over SIX MONTHS. Geez, how long does it take to fire someone after they're convicted of a felony?

smooth

Thu Nov 19 2009 08:31

she is now a convicted FELON--kick her butt out

Lara

Thu Nov 19 2009 08:10

Wow, Dr. Holder. Shame on you for your contribution to the "image of nursing."

Add comment


I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Enter the characters in the image above:

log out