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OGDEN — A Syracuse man was booked into Davis County Jail on Thursday, facing over 20 felony charges for potential financial crimes totaling at least $4 million across multiple cases along the Wasatch Front.
Charging documents say 40-year-old Ryan Kelly Goodrich, as a title agent through his company Synergy Title Insurance Agency, took part in a "wide-ranging scheme to defraud property buyers, sellers and lenders."
His alleged scheme, according to court documents, left many in financially precarious positions, collectively out millions of dollars.
Investigators say Goodrich kept the proceeds from numerous house sales instead of using it to pay off the homeowners' mortgage. In one such case, according to court documents, Goodrich kept over $110,000 meant to pay off a mortgage, forcing the house into foreclosure.
Charging documents say he also did this to another family, leaving them "with a substantial outstanding mortgage obligation post-closing."
On numerous occasions, investigators say Goodrich tried to cover up his alleged theft by forging wire receipts to show clients he had sent money, when he did not.
Goodrich forged fake home deeds in order to take out loans of several hundred thousand dollars for personal use, charging documents say; investigators allege he kept buyers' earnest money, and closed on purchases without sending funds to the seller.
Consumer complaints were submitted en masse to the Utah Insurance Commission, which issued an emergency order in February 2023, saying "immediate action is necessary and in the public interest." The commission suspended Goodrich and his company's licenses and issued a cease and desist order, barring the man from conducting any more insurance-related business in the state.
He's charged with 15 counts of communications fraud, five counts of unlawful dealing of property by fiduciary, and a pattern of unlawful activity, all second-degree felonies.
Goodrich is also being investigated for his residential construction business, though he "has never been licensed as a contractor in the state of Utah," according to the Utah Department of Professional Licensing.
Goodrich has been charged in at least three separate cases where he allegedly took money from clients but did not do the work, according to court documents.
In September 2023, police say Goodrich was hired to rebuild a deck and hang gutters, and was paid an initial deposit of over $27,000. According to charging documents, after he started the work the client realized there were issues with the framing. Goodrich promised to fix it, investigators say, but allegedly walked off the job without fixing anything or issuing a refund.
On another project, police say Goodrich took almost $10,000 to design and build a deck for a Salt Lake City resident. The charging documents say "Goodrich never conducted any work and stopped responding to (the resident's) calls and text messages."
An affidavit of probable cause for one case showed that the professional licensing division had "documentation of multiple complaints from others regarding similar experiences," and he was cited "multiple times for contraction without a license."
Disciplinary records show Goodrich was cited in September and November of 2023 for practicing without a license, and was fined $2,000 for each violation.
In those cases, he is charged with theft and communications fraud, both second-degree felonies, a third-degree count of communications fraud and two counts of engaging in construction trade without a license, a class A misdemeanor.
Goodrich is also facing four separate cases where he is charged with retail theft at a Costco and Home Depot in Ogden, a Clearfield Winegars and a Walmart in Clinton.
