HAMMOND | A Merrillville mortgage broker has pleaded not guilty to charges she used fraudulent information on credit applications to persuade banks to loan her clients more than $1 million to buy 27 homes, nearly all in Gary.

Tameka Bryant, 35, of Lynwood, appeared in court Wednesday on 14 counts of fraud. In addition to the mortgage fraud charges, prosecutors say Bryant used someone else's Social Security number on loan forms at a jewelry store and elsewhere.

Bryant's case is only the latest in a series of indictments involving mortgage and identity fraud in Gary.

Court records say Bryant is married to James Clark, a convicted drug trafficker who was receiving large shipments of cocaine for distribution in Gary.

As part of the same indictment, Clark pleaded guilty to misusing a Social Security number.

Bryant's indictment says she deposited her own money into her clients' bank accounts to boost their creditworthiness and generated fake identities and employment records for them.

The indictment says Bryant worked with Clark and two other people to obtain loans through her two brokerage businesses, Guarantee Mortgage and Challenge Mortgage, both of which had offices at 6010 Broadway in Merrillville. Phone numbers there were disconnected Wednesday.

Another person who Bryant allegedly worked with is Anthony K. McDonald, who was charged in November with buying 10 homes in Gary through a mortgage firm identified at the time only as "Company A."

Although McDonald's income never rose above $20,000 between 2003 and 2005, fraudulent mortgage applications he submitted through Bryant's company persuaded three lenders to loan him nearly $500,000 for Gary real estate in that time, the indictment says.

All 10 homes listed in the McDonald indictment also are listed in the Bryant indictment.

McDonald is scheduled for trial next month on 14 counts of wire and mail fraud.