Church Pastor Cops Guilty Plea In Home Equity Ripoff; Conned Home-Selling Senior Into Holding Unrecorded Mortgage, Then Pocketed $420K Refi Proceeds

In Ventura County, California, the Camarillo Acorn reports:

• A Camarillo man who is the pastor of a Christian church in Ventura has pleaded guilty to three felony charges, including stealing the home equity of a Ventura man in his 80s. Alonzo Gene McCowan, 50, pastor of Solid Rock Christian Center, pleaded guilty Feb. 17 before Superior Court Judge Bruce Young to charges of theft of real property from an elder, money laundering and grand theft related to a series of real estate transactions.

• The Ventura County district attorney’s office said it reached a plea agreement with McCowan that provides for a year of jail time, extended probation and payments of restitution to the victim, Leo Gilmond, now 87. The agreement provides for dismissal of all felony charges against McCowan’s wife, Kimberly Ann McCowan, 47.

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• Senior Dep. District Attorney Miles Weiss said securing restitution payments to Gilmond weighed heavily in the prosecutor’s decision to reach a plea agreement. “One of the main components of the agreement was the district attorney’s main concern on behalf of the elderly victim of receiving actual money at this stage of his life,” Weiss said. “That was one of his primary requests in the handling of the case.”

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• The transaction with the elderly Ventura man dates to October 2004 when Gilmond sold his home to McCowan for $460,000 so it could be used by church visitors and students.

• Weiss, outlining the case, said Gilmond carried the loan for McCowan, expecting monthly installments and a balloon payment for the balance in three years. Weiss said McCowan made payments totaling $10,000 but never had the deed of trust recorded after the title was signed over to him.

• He instead gained access to $ 420,000 of the property’s equity by later taking out a separate loan in his wife’s name from a commercial lender. “And thus Mr. Gilmond was left without getting paid and now with a property that was encumbered by not one but two very sizable mortgages, now over $800,000 combined,” Weiss said.

• The house went into foreclosure shortly before the balloon payment was due. According to court records, McCowan said that he had lost the money in the stock market. McCowan had faced up to 16 years and eight months in jail and $1.74 million in fines and restitution if he were convicted of all charges in a trial.

• Weiss said that under the plea agreement, McCowan has already paid $75,000 in restitution from a verified source and owes a balance of $349,100. McCowan is required to pay $1,000 a month at 10 percent interest during a probation that could last up to 13 years. If he pays the full restitution balance before 13 years, he can request termination of probation, but he must serve a minimum of five years of probation, Weiss said.

• Gilmond’s heirs will receive the balance of the restitution if he dies before it is paid in full, the prosecutor noted. [...] Weiss said that Gilmond sued McCowan based on essentially the same facts and won a civil judgment in excess of $500,000. When restitution is made in the criminal case, those funds will be subtracted from the civil judgment, Weiss said.

For the story, see Pastor pleads guilty to felony charges (Agreement allows case against his wife to be dropped).