California Woman Under Probe For Alleged Foreclosure Rescue Scam Charged In Unrelated Case; Pocketed $66K From Senior In Phony Refi, Says Prosecutor

In Santa Cruz County, California, The Mercury News reports:

• A Watsonville woman under investigation in Monterey County for allegedly duping dozens of defaulting homeowners out of thousands of dollars has been jailed in Santa Cruz County for unrelated grand theft charges. Melissa Dawn Garcia, 27, has pleaded not guilty to one count of elder financial abuse and one count of forgery in Santa Cruz County Superior Court. Garcia [...] allegedly convinced a 76-year-old Salinas woman to invest tens of thousands of dollars through Garcia, according to prosecutor Bill Atkinson.

• "Basically this was a loan investment opportunity," Atkinson said. "Allegedly, Garcia said she was going to give it to a homeowner who was doing a remodel. To protect the victim, Garcia said the homeowner would give them a deed of trust to the home. Therein lies the rub. The homeowner was fictitious, the property that supposedly secured the loan was fictitious and the $66,000 never got past Melissa Garcia."

For more, see Watsonville woman suspected in $66K elder abuse scheme, separate loan refinancing scam (no longer available online).