Glendale Cops Begin Dipping Into $150K Grant Money As Battle Escalates Against Foreclosure Scams, Other Real Estate Rackets

In Glendale, California, the Glendale News Press reports:

• Glendale police detectives have begun using a $150,000 grant to investigate real estate fraud as more scam artists take advantage of homeowners looking to refinance their mortgages, officials said. The funding has been used to look into tips that may result in lengthy real estate fraud investigations, Lt. Susan Hayn said. Details about the cases were not disclosed because they are under investigation.

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• Investigating real estate fraud can be time consuming.(1) Detectives must often work long hours to track suspects and information, Hayn said. The unit's large caseload was one critical component for the large grant amount, said county Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Baker of the Real Estate Fraud Section. So far this year, Baker said his section is working on 50 cases with about seven prosecutors. The cases logged 134 defendants, which he said is common for real estate fraud.

• Because real estate fraud cases are complicated, he said prosecutors rely heavily on a police department's investigative skills and ability to organize evidence clearly. The number of real estate fraud cases throughout the county is overwhelming, Baker said.

For more, see Police fight real estate fraud (Grant money is helping to pay for hours of overtime investigating mortgage, foreclosure scams).

(1) Reportedly, one particular real estate fraud case was investigated for three years where a Glendale homeowner contacted police after his home was sold by scam artists without his knowledge. But an investigation into the home sale began to unravel a more complicated scheme. Detectives discovered that a pair of scam artists had represented themselves as real estate facilitators and recruited fraudulent mortgage brokers and notaries to submit fake loan applications and appraisals to lenders for six properties, police said. The pair was eventually convicted of the scheme and sentenced to more than 25 years in prison, the story states.