California Real Estate Fraud Report

This report spotlights real estate professionals and businesses lacking the ethics and conscience to treat their fellow humans in a fair, honest and upstanding manner. It is a clearinghouse for real estate fraud, mortgage fraud, loan fraud, appraisal fraud and elder financial fraud occurring in California, especially Los Angeles and Southern California. - Monique Bryher

Archive for the 'Elder Financial Fraud' Category

Elder abuse alleged in San Mateo County

March 5th, 2010 at 12:43pm

County prosecutors issued an arrest warrant last week for a man accused of bilking an 89-year-old Pacifica woman out of nearly $600,000.

Fetuu Tupoufutuna has fled the country in the face of allegations he conned an 89 year-old woman in Pacifica out of almot $600,000. Tupoufutunas has been charged with nine counts that include elder fraud by a caretaker, forgery and a great taking allegation, according to San Mateo County Deputy District Attorney Melissa McKowan.

The victim, Pauline Reade, was tricked into signing loan documents for $312,000 by Tupoufutuna, who met her while doing minor repair work on her home. The home, in which Mrs. Reade lived since 1951, was going to be foreclosed upon as a result. Reade was a widow who had no close contacts, which made her an attractive target by criminals. visually impaired.

Read the full article in the San Mateo Daily Journal.

90 year-old the victim of elder financial fraud in Hemet

March 2nd, 2010 at 1:31pm

An elderly man is the victim of elder financial fraud, according to authorities in Riverside, who say that Gary Lee Wickham embezzled more than $120,000 from the 90 year-old.  Wickham is accused of conning the victim by issuing him promissory notes that were never performed upon.

Four additional victims have reported to police that they were scammed by Wickham, and authorities are searching for more.

Read the full article in the Press Enterprise.

Accountant accused of bilking elders

February 24th, 2010 at 8:38pm

Accountant Maynard Weldon Moreland of Livermore has been accused of stealing more than $3 million from investors, many of them seniors. He has been charged with more than 30 felonies, including financial elder abuse and grand theft.

Read the full article on the Silcon Valley Mercury News.

Tucker Mortgage principals appeal sentences

January 25th, 2010 at 8:08pm

Terry and Cheri Tucker, who operated Tucker Mortgage in Thousand Oaks and San Diego, are appealing their 10 year sentences, handed out by U.S. District Court Judge Manuel Real on November 30 of last year.

Both defendants pleaded guilty to bank fraud after soliciting private investors, mostly elderly, for money for real estate investments. That investment money was used to purchase up to $80 million in conventional loans. Those loans were used to convince sellers that the borrowers had down-payments, which they did not. The borrowers in fact were told by the Tuckers that they could purchase a home with no money down.

The Tuckers’ appeal does not affect an upcoming restitution hearing for the victims that is scheduled on February 22, according to Assistant U.S. District Attorney Mark Avei.

Read the Full Article in the Thousand Oaks Acorn.

Thousand Oaks couple get prison for mortgage fraud

December 18th, 2009 at 10:20am

Sonya Tucker, aka Cheri Tucker, and Terrance Tucker, aka Terry Tucker, are each going to federal prison for approximately 10 years.

The husband and wife team of mortgage brokers and real estate agents pleaded guilty to bank fraud after being prosecuted for processing fraudulent loan applications. They were originally charged with scamming real estate investors, many elderly, after promising them 12 percent rates of returns.

The Tuckers were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. District Attorney Mark Aveis, who said “There are plenty of federal prison beds for criminals like the Tuckers”.

Read the Full Article in the Thousand Oaks Acorn.

California Attorney General Brown Arrests Mortgage Brokers

September 11th, 2009 at 10:29am

This is a news story, that if proven true in the courts, sets a new milestone in hubris and anti-social behavior by three licensed real estate professionals towards the public. When you read what has been alleged, perhaps you will wonder as I do how these individuals thought they could commit the alleged crimes without being detected.

Yesterday, California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown announced that he has arrested several employees of ALG, Inc., a Los Angeles-based mortgage company. Michael McConville, 39, Garrett Holdridge, 23, and Alan Ruiz, 28, are all being held on $2 million bail each. McConville is a sales manager for ALG, Inc., while Holdridge and Ruiz are loan officers for ALG. The three face a total of 44 charges for defrauding more than 70 borrowers.

Attorney General Brown’s office is alleging that McConville, Holdridge and Ruiz ran a loan modification scam by falsely promising distressed homeowners that they would help them refinance their loans with lower interest rates and other financial terms including - get this - even some cash out. It is alleged that McConville and his associates presented the homeowners with paperwork using the terms they had promised but which had never been approved by the lenders. After the borrowers signed the closing paperwork, the pages with the terms  were replaced with pages bearing the actual terms with which the lenders had agreed. The signatures of the victims were forged on the replacement documents by the defendants.

Said Attorney General Brown, “This was not some clerical error but a criminal conspiracy to steal nearly a million dollars from borrowers.”

The defendants have been charged with the following crimes:

1. 28 counts of grand theft (Penal Code Section 487, Subdivision (a))
2. 14 counts of forgery (Penal Code Section 470, Subdividion (d))
3. 1 count of elder abuse (Penal Code 182, Subdivision (d))
4. 1 count of conspiracy to commit grand theft (Penal Code Section 182, Subdivision (a)(1))
5. 3 special allegations of aggravated white-collar crime in excess of $500,000 (Penal Code Section 186.11,
Subdivision (a)(2))
6. Taking in excess of $3,200,000 (Penal Code Section 12022.6, Subdivision (a)(4) and (b)).

Read the Full Press Release by the Office of the California State Attorney General.

This article is also published on Examiner.com by the L.A. Fraud Examiner.

Housekeeper Allegedly Cleans Out Couple after Cleaning Their House

August 28th, 2009 at 1:43pm

A Garden Grove housekeeper is being investigated by police in Orange County for possibly cleaning more than her elderly clients’ house.

Marlina Heinz was the housekeeper for Charles and Lois Woodbridge, an octogenarian couple living in Orange. Their attorney, Noelle M. Tomp, who practices elder, probate and trust law, has sued Heinz on behalf of their son John, alleging that she stole more than half of the Woodbridge’s assets. Charles Woodbridge has Parkinson’s Disease and his wife Lois has Alzheimer’s and dementia. It was because of his parents’ illnesses that John Woodbridge enlisted Dana’s Housekeeping in Garden Grove to find a housekeeper.

The lawsuit claims that 5 days before Lois’ death in 2006, Marlina Heinz took Charles to an attorney to have the Woodbridge’s estate plan amended so that Heinz would receive $200,000 and become the trustee of their estate. Later, Heinz’ name was added to the Woodbridge’s bank accounts and then - get this - she “married” Charles Woodbridge, despite already being married.

In addition to Heinz, John Woodbridge’s attorney has sued Dana’s Housekeeping and the two attorneys who altered the Woodbridge family trust.

Read the Full Article in the Orange County Register.

Panel Discusses Trends in Real Estate Fraud

June 28th, 2009 at 10:22pm

Many of the issues that are reported in the California Real Estate Fraud report - elder financial fraud, rental fraud, and the now tradition (sic) mortgage fraud, loan fraud and real estate fraud that became so common they qualified as business-as-usual during the subprime mania - were topics of discussion at a panel of real estate experts held in downtown Antioch last week.

Billed as the Contra Costa County Real Estate Fraud Summit, the summit included Terrence Christopher Patterson, of the state Department of Real Estate, an agent from the U.S. Secret Service who discussed identity theft resulting from loan applications being mined for personal data, and other local professionals.

Read the Full Article in the San Jose Mercury News.

Congress Writes Bill to Prevent Elder Financial Fraud

June 28th, 2009 at 10:04pm

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Congressman Howard Coble (R-NC) have introduced the Senior Financial Empowerment Act of 2009 (H.R. 3040). The legislation, if passed, will help stop abusive mail, telemarketing and Internet fraud that targets senior citizens.

Congresswoman Baldwin says she became aware of the vulnerability of seniors to predators while helping her own grandmother.

Read the Full Article in TMC News.

Surprise! Real Estate Fraud in Orange County

June 3rd, 2009 at 10:49pm

An Orange County real estate broker, her former boyfriend and his brother are accused of using straw buyers to fraudulently purchase 35 properties, six of them in Kern County.

Kathy Chen, 48, a real estate broker in Westminster, Richard Salgado Gonzalez, 59, and his brother Daniel Gonzalez, 56, have been arrested and charged with 154 felony counts, among them conspiracy, grand theft, attempted grand theft, forgery, recording false documents, elder financial exploitation and identity theft, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s office. Chen, who owned Chen Financial, KC Realty and SBC Financial, and her co-conspirators are accused of using straw buyers to purchase 35 properties fraudulently.

Read the Full Article in the Bakersfield Californian.

© Copyright 2007-2008 Monique Bryher

Legal Disclaimer.

The information and notices contained on The California Real Estate Fraud Report are intended to summarize recent developments in real estate fraud, mortgage fraud and appraisal fraud occurring in Los Angeles and California. The posts on this site are presented as general research and information and are expressly not intended, and should not be regarded, as legal advice. Much of the information on this site concerns allegations made in civil lawsuits and in criminal indictments. All persons are presumed innocent until convicted of a crime. Readers who have particular questions about real estate fraud, mortgage fraud and appraisal fraud matters or who believe they require legal counsel should seek the advice of an attorney.