Pair get 1 year in scheme

A Costa Mesa woman and her business partner were sentenced to a year in jail Friday for a mortgage scheme that saw victims fall into foreclosure or bankruptcy throughout California.

Marianne Curtis, 69, of Costa Mesa, and Mary Alice Yraceburu, 46, of Riverdale, pleaded guilty in March to 71 felonies, including unlawful foreclosure consulting, grand theft, attempted grand theft and conspiracy.

The two ran Orange County-based Foreclosure Freedom, where they promised to help struggling homeowners readjust their mortgages, from April 2007 to February 2008. The pair required an up-front payment of up to $1,800.

It is illegal to require payment before the services are performed.

As part of their sentence, the pair repaid 36 victims more than $32,000 they had lost. Prosecutors said there was no evidence the two successfully readjusted anyone’s mortgages.

The defendants may have collected up to $120,000, prosecutors added.

Neither woman was trained or had experience in the home mortgage market.

Each will also be on probation for four years, officials said.

Curtis’ attorney, Scott B. Well, said his client will apply to serve her sentence through house arrest.