Plea Deal Yields Prison Time For Mom, Daughter Duo In F'closure Rescue, Lease-To-Own Rent Skimming Scam Targeting Strapped Homeowners, Would-Be Buyers

In Bakersfield, California, the Bakersfield Californian reports:

• A mother and daughter will go to prison for their part in a real estate scam that cheated dozens of people out of 24 homes, a prosecutor said []. Alice Kantin,(1) also known as Meyer, 69, and her 38-year-old daughter, Dawn Kantin, pleaded no contest [] to felony charges that will put the mother in prison for two years and the daughter in prison for five years, Deputy District Attorney Gordon Isen said. [...] The Kantins will also be ordered to pay restitution in an amount to be determined, but it is unknown if they have any money to pay the victims, Isen said. The loss is a few million dollars, he said.

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• Each were charged with 44 felonies of conspiracy, embezzlement, theft, notary fraud and forgery stemming from transactions between 2007 and 2009.

• Both women reportedly agreed to take over payments for distressed homeowners by using rents from people who had an option to buy the homes, investigation reports say. But in most cases, the homes went into foreclosure during a time the senior Kantin poured at least $290,000 into her bank account, the reports say. Both the homeowners and renters lost everything, the reports say.

For more, see Mother, daughter plead no contest to felonies in real estate scam.

(1) Reportedly, Alice Kantin operated from a firm called Desert Air Real Estate Investments Inc. in Bakersfield, according to court reports.