Arizonas Campaign to Curb Repo Home Listings Fraudsters

Posted on June 2nd, 2009 in Arizona

Arizona repo home listings continue to surge to an unprecedented high of 79 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period the previous year. This unabated spread of foreclosures ranked the state number two in the country in terms of foreclosure rate.

About 49,119 properties in Arizona received foreclosure filings in the first three months of this year, representing a 6 percent jump from the last period of 2008 and 79 percent increase compared with the first quarter a year ago.

Last March, Arizona registered 18,876 homeowners who received foreclosure filings, 4 percent higher from February and a whooping 105 percent increase from March of 2008.

This ever-increasing surge in the number of foreclosed homes in the state spawned a new breed of fraudsters who victimized homeowners in danger of going into repo home listings. Con artists know that many of distressed homeowners are desperate to avoid foreclosures and they use this knowledge to victimize them.

To address the growing number of foreclosure fraud cases, Arizona has intensified its efforts to stop these con artists from further ruining homeowners’ lives. Attorney General Terry Goddard has made an effort to make these con artists accountable for their crimes.

Goddard’s office has a pending lawsuit filed against Richard Winer who operates several limited-liability companies, including Homeowner Solutions LLC, Filibuster LLC, Taken Care of Investments LLC and Bourbon Street Property Management LLC.

Winer is charged of defrauding an estimated 400 homeowners in Arizona through his companies. According to court records, Winer and his sales team did their homework well by choosing only homeowners whom they could easily convince about their bogus service.

Court records said that Winer and his team would approach distressed homeowners, talk to them and promise them a sure way to save their properties from foreclosures. Winer and his team would structure the deals in such a way that would allow them to take over the distressed houses and their equities.

Meanwhile, Goddard conducted a criminal investigation of Bobby John Herrera who defrauded about 47 homeowners by posing as someone with influence over mortgage lenders and who could pave the way for preventing foreclosures.

Herrera took away around $1,245 upfront fees from each homeowner. He pleaded guilty on charges of fraud and was sentenced to prison and to give restitution payment of $73,000.

Goddard said that complaints about repo home listings fraud increased 30 percent in the state, with an estimated 450 homeowners losing their properties on fraudulent schemes.

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