Judge Offers Upfront Fee Loan Modification Scammers Reduced Jail Sentence In Exchange For $38K+ "Upfront" Payment Of Victim Restitution

In Santa Ana, California, City News Service reports:

• Two women pleaded guilty Wednesday to loan-modification fraud and are expected to be sentenced to a year in jail next month if they make $38,340 in restitution, one of their attorneys said. Mary Alice Yraceburu, 46, of Riverdale and Marianne Curtis, 68, of Costa Mesa pleaded guilty to 71 counts each of grand theft, illegally accepting upfront fees, attempted grand theft and conspiracy to commit a crime, according to Orange County court records.

• Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert Fitzgerald offered the pair, who operated a company called Foreclosure Freedom, a year in jail in exchange for the guilty pleas and paying back their victims, Yraceburu’s attorney, Diane Bass said. They must make restitution when they are scheduled to be sentenced April 9, Bass said.

• State Attorney General’s Office prosecutor Angela Rosenau initially offered the two six years in prison and then lowered it to three years in prison, Bass said.

For the story, see Loan-mod scammers face year in jail if victims are paid back.