Two people from a realty office in Fontana are arrested on fraud charges
Two people from a realty office in Fontana were arrested for allegedly creating dozens of fraudulent documents, according to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.
On Aug. 25, investigators from the D.A.’s Real Estate Fraud Unit served a search warrant at Fidelity Group Realty and Legal Services in Fontana.
The search warrant was the result of an ongoing investigation regarding the fraudulent recording of Substitution of Trustee and Full Reconveyance and Release of Lien documents at the San Bernardino County Recorder’s Office.
These documents are normally recorded by a banking institution when a mortgage is paid in full; however, in this case, suspects Stephen Andrew Easterly and Emanuel Percival were allegedly signing as the “authorized representatives” of various banks.
Between the two of them, there have been more than 70 fraudulent documents recorded, affecting more than $17 million in home loans, investigators alleged. In addition to filing fraudulent documents, Easterly is also accused of creating fictitious checks and mailing them to the banking institutions, telling victims he is paying off their loans.
Victims in this case were charged between $3,500 and $7,000 for a process they believed would pay off their home loans and save them from foreclosure.
