Ex-Philadelphia Eagles Star and Mother Indicted on Loan Fraud Charges

Former Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Irving Fryar and his mother face trial, charged with pocketing more than 690-thousand dollars in a loan scam.

Fryar, 51, of Springfield, and Allene McGhee, 72, were indicted in Trenton today on second-degree charges of conspiracy and theft by deception, according to information from acting New Jersey Attorney General John J. Hoffman's office.

Fryar is a former Pro Bowl star who played for New England, Miami and Washington in addition to the Eagles over 16 years starting in 1984. He is the founder and current pastor of the New Jerusalem House of God in Mount Holly, NJ. He also coaches the Robbinsville High School varsity football team.

If convicted, Fryar and his mother would face prison terms of five to 10 years and fines as high as $150,000 on each count.

Prosecutors assert that they obtained five home equity loans from separate banks over a six-day span in December 2009, all applied to Allene McGhee's Willingboro house. Each bank, they contend, entered the agreements in the belief that no other loans existed, that each held first lien, and that adequate equity existed to secure the debts.

They charge that the applications contained misleading wage information for Mrs. McGhee, indicating thousands of dollars in monthly earnings as event coordinator for Fryar's congregation.

The Bank and the Susquehanna, Sun, Cornerstorn and Beneficial Banks wrote the agreements, say authorities, four of which closed nearly-simultaneously on December 21, 2009. Separate allegations accuse them of giving false information for a $414,000 loan from Lincoln Mortgage Company the previous October, secured by Fryar's house, and another loan on his mother's house by Roma Bank in January 2010.

Fryar is accused of spending at least $200,000 of the loan proceeds, while paying a handful of installments on the loans, which were eventually written off as losses by the banks.

Hoffman said, in a prepared statement, that the alleged scheme eclipses simple lying on loan forms. "This indictment alleges that they engaged in an elaborate criminal scheme that was designed to defraud these banks of hundreds of thousands of dollars," he said.