Oregon DOJ Task Force Begins Criminal Prosecutions Of Alleged Mortgage & Loan Modification Scammers; First Defendant Hit With $500K Bail

In Marion County, Oregon, the Statesman Journal reports:

• A Salem mortgage broker has been charged with using clients' personal information to purchase two homes. Julian James Ruiz III, 38, of Keizer was arraigned [last week on 17 counts] of mortgage fraud, aggravated theft, forgery and identify theft.

• Ruiz's criminal case is the first to be prosecuted by Oregon Attorney General John Kroger's Mortgage Fraud Task Force. [...] "The idea behind the task force is to not allow scammers to pick up steam," he said. [Oregon Department of Justice spokesman Tony] Green described the group as a coalition of criminal and civil attorneys, district attorneys, police and sheriff's offices, and investigators from throughout the state. The task force is investigating more than a dozen mortgage fraud and foreclosure scam cases across Oregon, he said.(1)

For more, see Keizer mortgage broker charged.

(1) According to the story, Ruiz' bail was set at $500,000. Julia Alavez, one of Ruiz's alleged victims, reportedly attended Thursday's hearing. "I went to him so he could help me with a loan modification on my home," Alavez, a cannery worker, said afterward. "I paid him $2,500 that he said he needed to pay fees to attorneys that would do the work," she said. "It's sad because you work long and hard for your money, and then someone just takes it away."