San Antonio Feds Charge Foreclosure Rescue Operator For Allegedly Pocketing Upfront Fees & Allowing Clients' Homes To Be Lost In Foreclosure

In San Antonio, Texas, the San Antonio Express News reports:

• On Thursday — almost 15 years after she first was put on notice over alleged fraud — FBI agents arrested [Rosario Castro - aka Rosie] Divins on charges she ran a foreclosure-rescue scam that swindled [Isaac and Christina Vela](1) and at least three other families out of thousands of dollars and sometimes vehicles. All lost their homes to foreclosure.

• A federal grand jury Wednesday indicted Divins on four counts of mail fraud and four counts of criminal contempt for disobeying bankruptcy court orders(2) instructing her to stop her misrepresentations.

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• Janie Anderson, 58, feels the Velas' pain. Anderson, who was diagnosed with cancer, and her husband, Rene Rodriguez, who needed an operation, turned to Divins in 2006 during their medical crises to help them avoid foreclosure. They're out almost $10,000, Anderson said. Not a penny of it went to pay the mortgage debt, the indictment said. The couple, like the Velas, haven't seen any of their money returned.

For more, see Local woman is arrested in foreclosure scam.

(1) Reportedly, court records show that the Velas gave Divins $6,800, but she never made a payment to the mortgage company.

(2) Since 2000, Divins has been warned by bankruptcy judges to stop sending out fliers claiming that she could “stop” foreclosures, according to the story. loan modification