FBI agent's journey from pulpit to prison

Darin McAllister's life unraveled as the housing crisis revealed inflated figures on his loan documents. The former LAPD officer sees his four-year sentence for fraud as another of life's tests.

December 26, 2011|By Richard A. Serrano, Washington Bureau

English said he never doctored the loan applications.

"The only thing I put in there was what he told me to put in there,'' English said in an interview. "He had the opportunity to look at it all. That was up to him."

He added: "None of this was necessary. There were other ways to get a loan rather than to misrepresent things. He got in over his head."

McAllister was convicted last December on 15 counts of wire fraud and three counts of bankruptcy fraud. U.S. District Judge John T. Nixon sentenced him to four years and a $675,000 fine. His lawyer is appealing the case.

"I want to clear my name," he said. "But not just that. This whole thing is bigger than me. A lot of people purchased property and there were appraisers and loan officers who were shoddy and playing tricks. If they could dupe me as an FBI agent, who was safe?"

His hair receding, his beard gone gray and his tall frame broadening around the middle, McAllister still hopes to someday remake himself again. "I will pass this test," he said. "God will allow me to handle this."

But for now, he must be content with his current job filling food trays in the cafeteria, making 50 cents a day.

richard.serrano@latimes.com

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