Miami-Dade Cops: Suspected Loan Modification Racket Not A 'Civil Matter;' Criminal Probe Ends With 4 Busts In Alleged Ripoff That Victimized Hundreds

In Miami, Florida, WPLG-TV Channel 10 reports:

• Four members of a Miami company were arrested, accused of stealing $750,000 from hundreds of clients in a mortgage modification scam. Miami-Dade police said that during a six-month period in 2008 and 2009, Best Value Homes, Inc., at 7845 Coral Way, which billed itself as a mortgage loan modification company, used telemarketing to solicit perspective clients, telling them it could modify their existing home mortgages.



• Police said clients paid an upfront fee of $1,500 to $1,750 and signed a third-party contract giving Best Value Homes permission to negotiate the mortgages with the financial institutions.



• The company took the cash without completing any of the services, according to Miami-Dade police. Police were called to Best Value Homes, Inc., in February 2009 after about 15 people showed up at the company's office, claiming they were defrauded. The incident led to about 500 more claims of fraud and deception by the same people.



• The suspects, Ronald Rodriguez, 31, Zoar Rodriguez, 27, Kellyd Rodriguez, 32, and Berta Cabrera, 54, all of Miami, face charges of conspiracy to commit racketeering and organized fraud. If convicted of all counts, each could face up to 60 years in prison.

Source: 4 Arrested In Mortgage Modification Scam (Police: Company Took Cash, Didn't Perform Service).