Charged With 65 Felonies, Real Estate Agent Accused Of Pilfering $250K In Loan Modification Scam Abandons "Bad Businessman" Defense, Cops Plea To Two Charges; Will Get Easy Jail Sentence (No More Than 1 Year) In Exchange For Probable Prison Time-Buy Out Deal; Victims Express Outrage

In Sonoma County, California, The Press Democrat reports:

• A Petaluma real estate agent accused of defrauding dozens of clients across the Bay Area in an alleged home mortgage scam settled his case with state prosecutors [] with an agreement to serve up to a year in jail.
  
  Miguel Angel Lopez-Soleta, 44, pleaded no contest to felony grand theft and embezzlement from an elderly person through his Rohnert Park business, Mortgage Modifiers, in 2012.
  
  In addition to possible jail time, Lopez-Soleta will receive five years of probation and be ordered to pay restitution at his Dec. 1 sentencing hearing. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the 63 remaining charges.
  
  Former clients who claimed they were ripped off by Lopez-Soleta expressed outrage at what they said was a light punishment. Robert Gillis, who said his mother lost her Novato home to foreclosure because of Lopez-Soleta, said he should have received 20 years in prison.
  
  “It’s totally unacceptable,” said Gillis, who is part of an email group with 100 people who lost money on the alleged scam. “None of the victims agree with it. They are so upset.”
  
  Caroline S. Chen, the deputy attorney general handling the case, did not return a call [] seeking comment. She told Judge Robert LaForge she would seek additional restitution in the amount of $147,000 for two people and other victims not named in the complaint. Lopez-Soleta has already agreed to pay about $100,000.
  
  A spokeswoman for Attorney General Kamala D. Harris said it is common to drop charges when a defendant accepts responsibility and pays restitution.
  
  His lawyer, Kristin Long, said her client had valid defenses to many of the claims but accepted the plea bargain to avoid the risk of a long prison term.
  
  He could be allowed to serve jail time any jail sentence on electronic home confinement or work release, she said. He appeared in court [] and remains free on bail.
  
  Last year, Lopez-Soleta was charged with 65 felonies accusing him of bilking clients out of about $250,000.(1)

For more, see Plea deal for Petaluma real estate agent accused in Bay Area home mortgage scam.

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(1) In a June, 2015 story, his then-attorney characterized this case as nothing more than a civil matter, not a crime:

• Lopez-Soleta declined to comment but his lawyer, Stephen Turer, called the case against him a “witch hunt.” Turer said Sonoma and Marin county prosecutors have already declined to bring charges in what he characterized as a civil contract dispute. It is unclear why the state Attorney General’s Office is now taking up the case, he said.
  
  “He’s a bad businessman,” Turer said. “There’s a big difference between being a bad businessman and being a criminal.”