Archive for September, 2009

Teresa Vogt, of Anaheim, pleaded guilty last week to obstruction of justice charges and agreed to testify against her former business partners, who had been indicted in an investment fraud scheme in May 2005.
Prosecutors say that Vogt, along with eight co-defendants operated a fraudulent foreign currency exchange that promised returns of 4% per month. [...]

Michael Diamond, 30 of Woodland Hills, was arrested September 11 while in the Ventura County Jail on additional charges related to his previous arrest for selling cocaine. The additional charges include money-laundering, tax evasion and possession of drug sale proceeds in excess of $100,000 and $25,000. Diamond was originally arrested in June for selling cocaine. [...]

Former Orange County Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for mail fraud and filing a false tax return. Jaramillo, who was appointed by former OC Sheriff Michael Carona, is required to surrender in 45 days and is also required to pay a $50,000 fine.
Prosecutors had originally [...]

A Ventura County pastor and his wife were arraigned on fraud charges last week in connection with the transfer of a home worth about half of a million dollars from an elderly man to the couple. According to investigators, the couple promised the victim a payment of $460,000 in exchange for the house, saying that [...]

James Mattatall, of Torrance, CA, was convicted of federal criminal contempt after federal prosecutors demonstrated in court that Mattatall continued to prepare tax returns for other individuals in violation of a permanent injunction issued by the federal district court in 2004.
At that time, Mattatall was barred from filing federal income tax returns for other [...]

A former property manager for the Spanish Hills Homeowners’ Association pleaded guilty to grand theft and filing a false tax return earlier this month. The woman, Daphne Brenon, 53, of Westlake Village admitted to embezzling funds from the association.
Brenon admitted to taking more than $150,000, but is believed to have stolen more than $400,000 [...]

A Marlborough woman has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of Medicaid fraud. The woman is accused of acting as an unlicensed nurse to provide care to Medicaid patients. Her services were billed as licensed care services by Priscilla Villabroza, who operated the service. Villabroza pleaded guilty last year to health care fraud. [...]

Three people have been arrested in connection with a mortgage fraud that netted nearly $1 million from unsuspecting homeowners who were looking to refinance their mortgages. According to police, three employees of ALG, Inc., conspired to trick more than70 borrowers into refinancing their homes by promising to deliver low interest rates and fees. Once [...]

Ventura police arrested a man who was accused of theft of merchandise from two different retail stores. Jesse Tofflemeier, 25, of Ventura allegedly left the Boot Barn on Ventura Boulevard without paying for merchandise. Store employees confronted Tofflemeier, who threatened them, and drove away from the store. Ventura police were notified of the incident [...]

Two people are facing federal drug charges following raids conducted jointly by state and federal police agencies on fourteen medical marijuana dispensaries. San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis says that owners of the dispensaries that were raided were not in compliance with state law, which requires a dispensary to be owned and operated by cooperatives [...]