Feds eye 18 in mail scam

Following a massive investigation by the FBI and IRS called “Operation Home- wrecker,” federal prosecutors are accusing 18 people of mortgage fraud schemes centered on a Costa Mesa business. Desperate homeowners seeking to avoid foreclosure were scammed out of millions of dollars and still lost their properties, according to prosecutors.

Federal officials in Sacramento unsealed two separate federal indictments Monday, both implicating La Habra resident Charles Head, 33, who ran Costa Mesa-based Head Financial Services, and a number of the company’s employees, including brother Jeremy Michael Head, 30, who lives in Huntington Beach.

The first indictment, for 13 counts of mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and related offenses, accuses Charles Head and 15 employees of a “foreclosure rescue scam” that netted $6.7 million from 47 homeowners mostly in California.

The scheme worked like this, according to the indictment: Employees called homeowners in danger of foreclosure and offered to add an “investor” to the home’s title; residents were told they would pay them rent instead of the mortgage to boost their credit ratings; instead, however, often these “investors,” actually friends and family members of the defendants, would secretly take victims’ place as the legal owners; finally, these owners would take out as profitable a mortgage as possible, then sell the property or stop making payments; victims then found themselves thrown out of their homes without better credit or a dollar to show for it.

Jeremy Head formed the company Financial Enterprises, LLC, as part of the scheme and acted as a salesman to recruit victims, according to the indictment.

A second indictment accuses seven people — four overlap from the first indictment — of a similar “equity stripping” scheme that employed the help of strangers recruited over the Internet and lured in victims with mass e-mails. This scheme landed $5.9 million from 68 homeowners nationwide, according to prosecutors.

Mortgage fraud investigations have become a high priority for law enforcement officials, Drew Parenti, special agent in charge of the Sacramento FBI, said in a statement.

“Mortgage fraud has recently been elevated to the FBI’s highest financial crime priority, and we are attempting to address the numerous reports of fraud within the real estate industry that have occurred across the country,” he said. “We are focusing on the industry professionals, the ‘insiders’ who have manipulated the mortgage loan process for their own financial gain.”

 Charles Head, 33, La Habra

 Jeremy Michael Head, 30, Huntington Beach

 Elham Assadi, 30, Irvine

 Leonard Bernot, 51, Laguna Hills

 Akemi Bottari, 28, Los Angeles

 Joshua Coffman, 29, North Hollywood

 John Corcoran, 52, Anaheim

 Sarah Mattson, 27, Phoenix

 Domonic McCarns, 33, Brea

 Anh Nguyen, 36, Los Angeles

 Omar Sandoval, 32, Rancho Cucamonga

 Xochitl Sandoval, 29, Rancho Cucamonga

 Eduardo Vanegas, 28, Phoenix

 Justin Wiley, 28, Irvine

 Kou Yang, 32, Corona

 Keith Brotemarkle, 42, Johnstown, Penn.

 Benjamin Budoff, 41, Colorado Springs

 Lisa Vang, 24, Westminster