It's not that the Riverbottoms in Provo isn't posh, it just isn't $4 million posh.

About 200 residents in that neighborhood feeling soaked by high property assessments flooded the board of equalization (aka the County Commission) this year, demanding they take another look at their property valuations. The county did, lowered many of the values and is now looking at the 350 homes that didn't appeal.

The reason is that multiple homes involved in an illegal mortgage scheme likely drove up all the house prices in the area, said county assessor Kris Poulson.

That scheme is the same one that ensnared Channel 2 sportscaster Dave Fox. Last week Fox entered a plea in abeyance on communications fraud charges in 4th District Court. The plea means that if he doesn't commit any crimes for the next three years, his record will be clean.

What was allegedly being done with certain properties in the Riverbottoms is that homes were bought and sold quickly and repeatedly among a circle of investors who artificially inflated the cost of the homes and then took the profits.

"Our concern is that some of those properties got into our valuation model," Poulson said.

So instead of homes coming in at around a million dollars, some were coming in around $3 million or even $4 million.

More charges are expected soon against people tied to the scheme, according to the Utah County Attorney's Office.

Mortgage fraud also catches the attention of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Salt Lake City.

As a chosen home is run up in value, often what ends up happening is that misrepresentations take place to keep the price high. That includes misstated income on applications and attempts to manipulate the real estate or the transaction, said U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman.

"Considerable damage can be done in a short period of time," said Tolman, who is aware of the Provo situation.

With a strong history of prosecuting such fraud, Tolman said his office will stay aggressive.

"I think you'll start to see renewed and continued focus on those in the lending industry," he said.

To straighten out the assessing problem, Poulson said he is using a different pricing model than home sales. The alternative model is used by insurance companies to price homes that have burned down. The county hopes to be finished by the end of the week and notices will be sent to the 350 homeowners who did not appeal their valuations. The notices will say that a new assessment has been done and they have 30 days to appeal or accept.

The county assesses the area's 150,000 properties each year. That value is then used in equations to set property taxes. A huge increase in home values -- like over the past two years -- is supposed to be offset by a lowering of the tax rate to keep taxes from shooting up as well. That is, of course, unless the city, county, school district or other taxing entity wants to collect more taxes, a move which is signaled by a truth in taxation hearing.

This year, all three school districts, six cities and a water district asked for such hearings.

If you don't live in the Riverbottoms, your chance to appeal that eye-opening valuation is past. That date was Sept. 17. Taxes for everyone not getting the new valuations are due Nov. 1.

Poulson said that while he's seen the occasional fraudulent home getting caught up in assessment models, the Riverbottoms problem is practically unheard of.

"I've never seen it to this extent," he said. "It really threw us."