Plea-Copping Suspect Agrees To Testify Against Confederates In Criminal Fraud Prosecution Of Alleged Loan Modification Scammers

In Monterey County, California, The Monterey Herald reports:

• A preliminary hearing began Friday for a Gonzales woman and her nephew who are charged with fraud. They were arrested in August 2008 on suspicion of taking money from 55 people with empty promises of renegotiating their mortgages to avoid foreclosure.

• Defense attorneys for Maria de Lourdes Ponce, 51, and Fabian Olivarez Casillas, age unknown, said prosecutors are basing their case on the word of the real culprit in the case, a cocaine-addicted co-defendant who pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against her alleged co-conspirators.

• Melissa Dawn Garcia, 28, of Watsonville is serving a four-year prison sentence for similar offenses in Santa Cruz County. Her sentencing in the Monterey County case has been delayed until after she testifies against Ponce and Casillas.

For more, see Investigator testifies in fraud case (Two accused in mortgage renegotiation scheme).

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