Two Sentenced Today in Foreclosure Fraud That Left Lives in Tatters

Isaac Andrade Lopez and Graciela Rodriguez lost everything. First their jobs, then their home. Finally, almost $10,000.

The two had been referred to a Campbell-based company, M & R Contemporary Solutions Inc., back in 2008 for help to save their home. Instead, the two were defrauded.

David Martin and his wife, Suzette, suffered a similar fate under M & R. The two were referred to the company in 2009 by Suzette's brother, Ritchie Tolentino, because their home was in default. The two lost almost $6,000.

Rene Alvarez and Mariano Ortega, owners of the former M & R Contemporary Solutions Inc., on 1845 Winchester Blvd. in Campbell, are scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in Santa Clara Superior Court.

The cases of Lopez, Rodriguez and the Martins are only two of 45 incidents where primarily Latino immigrant families lost their homes to the promise that M & R could help.

Alvarez and Ortega were indicted by the Santa Clara Grand Jury in what the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office called a "wide-ranging loan modification scam."

According to the DA's office, the two men, along with Cydney Sanchez, 60, of Los Angeles, were arraigned in April 2010 on an 83-count indictment, which charged them with defrauding 45 homeowners in eight Northern California counties over a one-year period.

Alvarez and Ortega owned and operated the Campbell foreclosure-consulting firm from 2008-09.

The DA's office said the victims were also part of a larger scheme that included the theft of more than $2 million from more than 400 homeowners in seven states. Most of these victims, however, were in California.

5 p.m., March 15 Update: Neither Alvarez nor Ortega were sentenced. Their hearing is being rescheduled for Thursday, March 29 at 1:30 p.m. at Santa Clara Superior Court.

If you or someone you know were victims in this case—and if you or they would like to go public with the story—please e-mail editor Mayra Flores De Marcotte at mayra.marcotte@patch.com, or call her at 408-623-5145.

Read the second part of this story Friday.