Brothers charged with fraudulent
short-sale, foreclosure rescue scam

September 24, 2014
Santa Paula News

Ventura County prosecutors filed felony charges September 8 against two Los Angeles men who allegedly bilked homeowners - including a Santa Paula couple - out of thousands of dollars through a fraudulent short-sale and foreclosure rescue program.

The two, 38-year-old Michael Herrera and his twin brother, Juan, face seven felony counts of grand theft and two felony counts of foreclosure consultant fraud. 

The brothers allegedly lured desperate homeowners and promised to save their homes from foreclosure through a program called the Herrera-Sindell Group.

According to Senior Deputy District Attorney Anthony Wold, the brothers 

targeted primarily Hispanic homeowners, often only Spanish speaking.

Ads run on Ventura County Spanish-language television stations that stated Herrera-Sindell Group would buy the distressed homes from complainants in a short-sale and later sell the properties back to them at reduced market value.

Prosecutors said once the complainants were “lured in,” they were charged thousands of dollars in illegal upfront fees and received no actual services from the Herreras.

Victims of the scheme, such as the couple from Santa Paula, were “Promised by the Herreras that they would purchase their home and sell it back to them at a slight profit, but of course for far less than what they currently owed.”

Said Wold, “It’s basically short sale fraud... and the promise was the same and no victims homes were actually purchased, nothing happened at all,” except the victims lost money they believed would save their homes.

Overall the loss is estimated at “just under $100,000 total, but that’s just the victims we have identified... we suspect there are scores more across Southern California and more in Ventura County.”

But what complicates the issue is that some victims don’t realize a crime has been committed and believe the loss of their money is a matter for civil court.

“It might not be as obvious to the victims that they are the victims of a crime rather than general misconduct... this type of crime is vastly underreported,” noted Wold.

Fraudsters, “This specific group and this group in particular target Hispanic households, first generation,” not familiar with real estate transactions and law, that “often do not speak English... they’re not given the proper documents in Spanish,” but rather “follow instructions given by the crooks,” to deal with the paperwork.

“If there’s any moral to the story there should be some sort of reinforcement to all homeowners that they should be extraordinarily aware to not pay anyone on your behalf to modify your mortgage. It’s against the law. The best bet for those having trouble with their home is to contact their lender directly,” to address the issues, as noted Wold, “I have yet to see one of these organizations,” such as Herrera-Sindell Group “offer legitimate assistance to homeowners... “

Laws were passed in the midst of the real estate meltdown that Wold said, “Went to great lengths to let people know,” those demanding up front payment to help homeowners modify their loans or provide foreclosure related service is “fraudulent. And whenever we see an increase in foreclosures we see an increase in these crimes. People become prime victims, they’re desperate and there are those promising unrealistic solutions to staying in their house... it’s very sad.”

Although the dates alleged in the criminal complaint against the Herrera’s are from 2010, Wold said, “It could have happened before and since... “

Ventura County residents who think they might be victims of the Herrera-Sindell Group are asked to call district attorney’s Investigator Joey De Los Reyes at 805-662-1750.





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