Suspects In Alleged Fractional Interest Deed Transfer, Foreclosure Rescue Scam Cop Plea

In Alameda County, California, The Mercury News reports:

• Two women who ran a Livermore foreclosure rescue company each face as many as 16 months in state prison after taking a plea deal that forces them to pay full restitution to their victims. Prosecutors say the women preyed on owners of more than 20 different properties in Alameda County. The women, Sonia Alburez, 37, owner of the Community Home Saver Program, and her employee, Verena Silva, 42, of Union City, were found guilty of two felony counts each of foreclosure rescue fraud and grand theft, according to a release from the Alameda County District Attorney's office.(1)

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• Victims, whose names and contact information the defendants obtained from public records in the County Recorder's office, were solicited by direct mailings from Community Home Saver Program. Victims were each told to process grant deeds and to pay monthly fees to the Livermore company of $1,500 to $2,500 so they could stall the foreclosure process as well as help pay down their mortgage and repair their credit.

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• The women would tell clients to transfer a portion of the interest in their properties to various holding companies. They were told those companies would file a petition with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to forestall foreclosure. Unbeknownst to the homeowners, the holding companies were fake.

For more, see Two found guilty in foreclosure rescue scam.

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(1) According to the story, the District Attorney's press release said the women were originally charged with the following felonies:

• filing false grant deeds with the Recorder's Office,
• receiving money as a foreclosure consultant before fully performing all services,
• grand theft by false pretenses,
• fraudulent conveyance of land with intent to delay creditors, a misdemeanor,
• because Silva went into the home of a victim to solicit the real estate fraud scheme, she was charged with first-degree residential burglary, a felony.