CLEVELAND, Ohio – One of Northeast Ohio's most successful Realtors was sentenced Thursday to spend more than 10 years in a federal prison for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme.

A jury in April convicted Realtor Thomas France, 44, of Strongsville, on conspiracy to commit bank fraud and four counts of bank fraud, aiding and abetting, involving a half-dozen luxury homes.

Expressing his remorse, France said the case has haunted him every day since his arrest, leaving him "disheartened, ashamed and disgusted." He said he has sold more than 2,000 homes during his 20-year real estate career, and he averages more than 60 transactions a year. But he denied he committed any crimes.

U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent rejected France's claims, noting that the evidence at the trial proved otherwise.

"In order for these schemes to reach success they needed a sophisticated Realtor like you," Nugent said. "You were a leader and an organizer in all of this."

In addition to the 10-year prison sentence, Nugent ordered France to pay $3 million in restitution.

According to the charging documents, France worked with Joseph Beccia of Medina, the owner of Horizon Construction, a builder of luxury homes, and Joseph Jones, who brokered the sale of the homes using various shell companies.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Bennett said France created a "shell game" with changing names and numbers, employing straw buyers to make the sophisticated scheme work.

Court documents described how France and the other defendants would re-list Beccia's luxury homes at inflated rates, obtain fraudulent appraisals at inflated rates, and then find straw buyers to obtain loans for the elevated amounts.

None of the straw buyers ever intended to live in the homes or to make payments on the mortgages, the indictment alleges. The homes were foreclosed on and the banks incurred losses totaling about $3.3 million.

France "was one of the driving forces in this mortgage fraud scheme," Bennett said.

Beccia, 63, of Richfield, struck a plea deal with prosecutors, and testified against France. Nugent sentenced him today to two years in prison and $3 million in restitution.

Nugent also sentenced one of the straw buyers, Alex Blackmore, 49, of the Bronx, New York, to one year in prison and $1.2 million restitution.

In court documents, France denied knowing the homebuyers would default on their mortgage loans. Had they continued to make their payments there would have been no loss, France said.

"He's a good person, judge," said defense attorney Dean Valore. "He was not an overseer or a mastermind in this conspiracy. He played a minor role."

France suffers from manic depression and a thyroid disease, which may have affected his behavior in the crime, Valore said.

Nugent gave France credit for his good character and prior crime-free life. But he declined to reduce the sentence for the mental and physical health problems, both of which can be treated in prison, he said.