Day Care Owner Caught In Fraud Scheme Gets Probation

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (WTAQ) - The owner of a day care center that was used in a mortgage fraud scheme by Milwaukee’s Michael Lock was put on 5 years’ probation Thursday. Federal Judge J.P. Stadtmueller also told Nicole Brown to spend 8 months in home confinement with a monitor tracking her whereabouts. Her attorney asked that Brown stay out of jail because she has kidney failure, and she’s waiting for a transplant. Brown admitted lying to banks on 2 occasions when she told them that homebuyers recruited by Lock and Cianti Clay worked at her child care center. The 2 men also used the center to arrange other fraudulent mortgage loans – but there was no evidence that Brown was involved in those. Brown told the judge she thought she was doing Clay a favor. She never got a kickback from him – but he did invest in her child care business. Lock was recently sentenced to 13 years in prison for conducting the mortgage fraud scheme.