California Man With History Of Real Estate Scam Accusations Bagged Again In Alleged Foreclosure Rescue Racket

In Stockton, California, The Stockton Record reports:

• Benjamin Ferdin did not trust the man who had taken money from his father to save him from foreclosure. [...] So Ferdin set up a kind of sting, baited with the promise of more money. When the supposed high-roller showed up at his father's house Oct. 4, Ferdin called the police, and Jesse Manuel Munoz, 33, was arrested.(1) It was not the first time.

• "He had a habit down here of selling properties that he didn't own," Merced County Deputy District Attorney Walter Wall said. "It sounds like he's up to doing the same thing again." In Merced, Wall said, Munoz ran a major real estate scam. Having obtained master keys to a development there, he would take prospective buyers on tours of model homes, take deposits from them and then vanish.

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• In April, Munoz pleaded guilty to multiple counts of fraud. He was sentenced to nine months' time served, a suspended 10-year prison sentence and three years' probation. He also was ordered to pay restitution. Wall said the plea was negotiated in an attempt to maximize restitution of victims. [...] In June, Munoz was arrested again, on a warrant that had been issued in Spokane County, Wash., in 2008 for similar frauds. He was extradited to Spokane County, where he posted bail. Spokane County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Robert Sargent said he had expected Munoz to plead guilty at his next court appearance on Nov. 13.

For the story, see Man faces charges in alleged real estate scam in Stockton.

(1) Reportedly, Stockton Police Department Detective Ken Southwick [...] said Munoz would offer to rescue Stockton homeowners from foreclosure or, failing that, buy their home and sell it back - if they would just give him $1,000 to get started. According to a complaint filed in San Joaquin County Superior Court, Munoz now faces four counts of grand theft and four counts of real estate fraud. According to the story, Munoz clipped Ferdin's father for $5,800.