S. Calif. Man Who Scammed Hundreds With Deed-Retrieval Racket Using Correspondence Simulating That Of Official Government Agency Gets Six Months

In Riverside County, California, The Desert Sun reports:

• A Los Angeles man who stole tens of thousands of dollars from Riverside County property owners he deceived in a money-for-deeds scam was sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail and three years probation.



• Pablo Alfonso Fourquet, 37, was also ordered by Superior Court Judge Richard Fields to pay $417,000 in restitution to his victims. Fourquet pleaded guilty on Oct. 11 to grand theft by false pretenses.



• The defendant was originally charged with three other felonies and a misdemeanor count, along with sentence-enhancing allegations, including one for committing a white-collar crime in excess of $100,000. Fields dismissed those charges as part of the plea agreement the defense reached with the district attorney's office earlier this month.



• Between April 2010 and April 2011, Fourquet operated a business called Title Compliance Office that used official-looking stationary, making it appear to be a government agency, according to prosecutors.



• The defendant distributed letters to property owners in the county, as well as in the Los Angeles area, Phoenix and Las Vegas, stating that the recipients needed certified copies of their grant deeds to prove ownership of their homes, according to the D.A.'s office.



• The letters played on the victims' fears of foreclosure, indicating there could be problems with loan modifications, and offered to obtain copies of deeds for a sum of $167 each, prosecutors said. A certified copy of a deed, which is rarely required, can be obtained from the county assessor's office for $10. According to the DA's office, 2,500 people fell victim to the scam and sent payments to Fourquet.

Source: Man gets jail, probation for deeds-copy scam.