Firefighter accused in LA of Mortgage Fraud
The Deputy District Attorney of the Real Estate Fraud Section, Hilda Weintraub announced in a press release on September 24th the arrested of Brent Lamont Mathews and Joi Rochelle Smith for their roles in a real estate fraud scheme.
Mathews, 43, a Los Angeles City Firefighter and part-time real estate broker was indicted on September 10th with six counts of forgery, three counts of attempt to file a false or forged instrument and two counts of grand theft.
Smith, 33, who was Mathew’s girlfriend at the time of the alleged fraud, is a notary of the public. She has been charged with six counts of forgery, three counts of attempt to file a false or forged instrument and two counts of grand theft as well.
Prosecutors charge that Mathews arranged to have the title of a Hacienda Heights property without the consent of the true owner. Mathews did this through a series of forged documents and filings. Mathews in addition defrauded two investors in 2008 you he recruited as partners to flip a home. The investment victims lost over one hundred forty thousand dollars each. Mathew is alleged to have borrowed the monies by issuing trust deed to the property and again filed false reconveyances of those deeds.
Smith for her part in the scheme used her notary on several key documents which allowed the illegal transfer of deeds to take place.
Mathew sold the property later for over six hundred thousand dollars and gained a net of over two hundred thousand. He did not use any monies from the sale to satisfy the deeds on the property.
Prosecutors in the case have recommend a bail for Mathews and Smith over eight hundred thousand dollars. If convicted of the charges against them the duet face a maximum of eleven years and four months in state prison.
The case was investigated by the Detectives of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Commercial Crimes Bureau.
