S. California Duo Get 27+ Years In Home Title-Snatching Scam Using Forged Land Documents, Stolen I.D.s; 88-Year Old Alzheimer's Patient Among Victims

From the Office of the Los Angeles County District Attorney:

• A 48-year-old man was sentenced [] to 27 years, four months in prison for helping defraud nearly a dozen victims through a sophisticated real estate fraud scheme. Deputy District Attorney Clay Peters of the Real Estate Fraud Section said jurors convicted Joseph Little of 40 counts on Dec. 8, 2009. Co-conspirator Dwight Rolland Shelton, 40, was convicted of 51 counts. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry, who presided over the trial, said restitution would be addressed at a later date. Judge Perry sentenced Shelton to 29 years, four months state prison on Jan. 28. [...] Five other defendants involved in the scheme pleaded before trial.

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• Over a period of nearly 18 months, Little and Shelton orchestrated a complex scheme that involved a fictitious person and a “straw buyer” who were used to obtain home loans on properties that were either not being sold by the victims, or were not being bought by the alleged purchaser, prosecutors said.

• This resulted in financial losses to civilian victims and lenders, as well as the temporary loss of title by the homeowner-victims. In total, the defendants received $780,000 in monies obtained through fraudulent transactions.(1)

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• Among the defendants’ victims was an 88-year-old widower with Alzheimer's disease, whose home was paid in full. He suffered a financial loss of more than $125,000, prosecutors said.

For the L.A. County DA press release, see Man Sentenced to More than 25 Years in Real Estate Fraud Case.

(1) According to the DA's press release, prosecutors said the monetary loss to the civilian victims was greater as this figure does not reflect attorneys and private investigators fees and lost work wages. Financial institutions also lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans that were not repaid and, in some cases, in properties that had to be resold at a loss.