http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/r ... 93,00.html

3 held in loan scam
Allegedly forged papers trigger Colo. organized-crime law

By John Rebchook And Marilyn Robinson, Rocky Mountain News
July 12, 2005

A Lakewood real estate agent and two of his associates were arrested Monday in what law enforcement officials are calling a $6.5 million mortgage scam that allegedly involved forging documents to get home loans for undocumented workers from Mexico and for unqualified buyers.

Ricardo Medina, 31, was involved in the 33 bogus transactions in 2003 and 2004, according to a grand jury indictment in the First Judicial District in Jefferson and Gilpin counties.

At that time, Medina was working for RE/MAX 100. Medina now works at the Keller Williams Realty Advantage office in Lakewood, according to the Colorado Real Estate Commission.

Also arrested and charged with violating the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act were Perla Alvarado, 24, and Nancy Rios, 39, who worked with Medina in finding loans.

They are "loosely termed" as loan officers, working with Medina, according to the indictment. Each of the three faces two felony counts of violating organized-crime laws. Each count is punishable by eight to 24 years in prison and a fine of $5,000 to $1 million.

Medina's attorney, Michael Axt, declined to comment on Monday, saying he hasn't yet read the indictment. Medina is being held on $40,000 bail. Bail for Rios and Alvarado was set at $250,000.

The three allegedly split hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions from the deals.

"This is a very unique investigation and a very sizeable kind of enterprise," said Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey.

"In this first stage of the investigation, we're more focused on the folks who were really the movers and shakers in this fraud scheme," Storey said.

In a statement, Storey's office said the investigation has led officials to believe that "thousands" of properties have been acquired this way in Colorado, "far exceeding the scope of state and local criminal justice resources."

Scott Mathias, a vice president at the Colorado Association of Realtors, said that while such cases are unfortunate, "I don't think it is widespread."

Mathias said the vast majority of people who get home loans do so properly.

The investigation was launched in the spring, after the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's gaming unit received a tip from a casino that someone had forged documents saying that homebuyers were employees.

According to the indictment, Ramirez and Medina submitted documents to a lender saying that Maria Guerra had received $37,109 in income from the Isle of Capri Casino in Black Hawk to buy a house at 11503 Marion St. in Northglenn. Records list Guerra as the owner.

But when the Rocky Mountain News called the house on Monday, a man who answered the phone but refused to identify himself said Guerra doesn't live there and has never lived in the home.

Guerra "does not have a legal presence in the U.S. and does not have a valid Social Security number or resident alien registration card," according to the indictment. "Persons in Guerra's circumstances are not eligible for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration."

Robert Brown, the agent in charge of the CBI investigation, said the buyers are not victims.

"They're not innocent victims," Brown said. "Many of them are illegal aliens.

"If they are not (illegal immigrants), the wage submitted for verification was incorrect and it was done by counterfeiting. At closing, they have to sign applications for the loan. I would think the person signing documents would know where they worked and how much they made."

In the late 1980s, when home prices collapsed with the energy market, the Denver area was plagued by what was known as "equity skimming," where people would assume existing mortgages and not make payments on the loan.

Instead, they would rent out the house until the lender foreclosed. Since then, government rules make it more difficult to assume mortgages.

Investigator Brown said that two- thirds of the homes involved in the alleged scam are already in foreclosure.