Judge Stalls 300-Day Sentence For Loan Modification Scammer To Allow Time For Add'l Restitution Payments In Possible 'Jail Time Buy Down' Deal

From the Office of the Tulare County, California District Attorney:

• On Wednesday, May 11th, 2011, Albert J. Carazolez, 43 of Porterville, was sentenced in the Tulare County Superior Court by the Honorable James Hollman for 21 charges relating to Foreclosure and Loan Modification Fraud. The charges consisted of four felony counts of CCC 2945.4(a) (foreclosure rescue fraud), four misdemeanor counts of CCC 2945.4(a), (foreclosure rescue fraud), nine counts of CCC 2944.7 (demanding up front payments for loan modification services), two counts of BP 6126 (practicing law without a license), one count of CCC 2944.6 (violating loan modification contract disclosure laws, and one count of BP 6402. (failure to register as a legal document assistant).
• The defendant was sentenced to 300 days in county jail, five years felony probation, and ordered to repay $20,630.00 to 15 named victims for illegally obtained fees. The defendant pled no contest to the 4 felony charges and 17 misdemeanor charges on October 10, 2010.(1)
• The Honorable Judge Hollman delayed sentencing over the People’s objection to allow time for the defendant to pay restitution. At the time of sentencing, the defendant had only paid $5,000.00 of the $20,630.00 owed.(2)
• The case began in July of 2009. District Attorney Investigator Dwayne Johnson began looking into complaints against Carazolez’s company, Quick Action Services. The investigation revealed that Carazolez was claiming to be able to effect loan modifications. District Attorney Investigators and an Investigator from the California Department of Real Estate conducted undercover operations which established that Carazolez was illegally offering to provide loan modification services.
• A search warrant was served and Carazolez’s files revealed an ongoing operation in which he claimed to negotiate loan modifications for an up-front fee, usually around $1,500.00.
• Although not an attorney, Carazolez filed bankruptcies for several of the victims as well.(3) Because of Carazolez’s actions, most of the loan modifications did not work out and some of the victims ultimately lost their homes.

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• This case was prosecuted through the Real Estate Fraud Program of the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office.

For the Tulare County DA press release, see Porterville Man Sentenced for Foreclosure and Loan Modification Fraud.

(1) According to this story, Carazolez pled no contest to:

• four felony counts of foreclosure rescue fraud,
• four misdemeanor counts of foreclosure rescue fraud,
• nine counts of demanding up front payments for loan modification services,
• two counts of practicing without a license,
• one count of violation of loan modification contract disclosure laws, and
• one count of failure to register as a legal document assistant.

(2) I suspect that the prosecutor's objection to delay the sentencing has to do with:

• the likelihood that if Carazolez coughs up all the cash before going to jail, he will immediately ask the judge for consideration of a 'buy down' (reduction) in his 300-day jail sentence; and
• the possibility that Carazolez, as a convicted scammer, may consider raising the loot by going out and scamming more people before the next sentencing hearing.

(3) Carazolez should consider himself lucky that he has apparently dodged scrutiny from federal criminal investigators for possible fraud involving the bankruptcy filings.

See Final Report Of The Bankruptcy Foreclosure Scam Task Force for a discussion of the various foreclosure rescue rackets involving the use of abusive bankruptcy court filings.