Jail Time Expected For Pair In Recent Unrelated Cases Involving Use Of Bogus Recorded Documents To Dodge, Delay Foreclosure

In Modesto, California, The Modesto Bee reports:

• Several industry insiders charged in real estate scams have reached plea deals in recent weeks with prosecutors who say the spate of convictions is coincidence.
  
  Most will produce jail or prison sentences, rare for white collar crime in this area.
  
  "There is an emphasis on real estate professionals because of higher standards and the trust people place in them," said Jeff Mangar, a prosecutor with the Stanislaus County district attorney's real estate fraud unit.
  
  Chronologically, working backward:
  
  • Phil Sotelo agreed [] to a six-month jail sentence for filing phony documents with the county recorder's office in an effort to avoid foreclosure on his north Modesto home. He had owned Realty Executives Sotelo & Associates when arrested two years ago and had worked with other Modesto firms since 1989.
  
  Documents indicate he owed $1.4 million on his Papillon Drive home in a gated community and posed as a representative of his lender while deeding the property to a corporation he owned.

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• Gabriel Albor, who once owned Fidelity First Mortgage in Escalon, pleaded May 15 to a felony count of filing a bogus document to postpone losing his wife's property. He is expected to receive a six-month term when sentenced Aug. 7.

For the story, see Several Modesto real estate scams end in plea deals.