Special offer

Springfield VA-Former Real Estate Agent Sentenced to Five Year Prison Term

By
Real Estate Agent with Integrity Real Estate Group

Former Real Estate Agent SentencedLate last week a fomer real estate agent who had been the target of an FBI investigation and subsequently indicted in 2009 has learned his fate.

Ruben Rojas and his family led a real estate and mortgage fraud scheme that resulted in losses to lenders to the tune of $9 Million Dollars.  Many of the homes that they were involved in flipping or tearing down to rebuild large McMansions subsquently turned into boarding homes in older Springfield neighborhoods. 

It was those boarding houses that led to complaints by neighborhood citizen groups which unraveled the mortgage fraud and subsequently the arrest of close to 20 people including Ruben Rojas his sister-in-law, Litcia Linares, his sister Lourdes Rojas Almanza and his two brothers Grovert Rojas and Jaime Nino Rojas.

Prosecutors were surprised when the judge sentenced Rojas to 5 years in prison and 5 years of supervised release. More than the recommended sentence.   He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $9.5 million.   A lawful permanent resident from Bolivia, Rojas will be turned over to immigration authorities for deportation proceedings following his release from prison.

The results of  the Rojas scheme can been seen by anyone driving through neighborhoods in Springfield.  Most of the homes involved in the transactions have gone into foreclosure or have been sold as short sales.  The 30 transactions included in the indictment amount to $24 Million in illegal loans received with bogus documents created by the Rojas group.

Though the sentencing will not fix the sharp decline of home values in central Springfield, nor will it fix the blight that the McMansions leave among the older smaller homes but it should send a message to other agents who were involved in mortgage scams and flipping schemes.  The FBI and local authorites aren't going to let you off lightly when your day in court arrives.

 

 

Posted by

                                   Real People*Real Lives*Real Estate

If you are interested in learning more about the Northern Virginia Real Estate market including Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William Counties give Cindy Jones and Integrity Real Estate Group a call at 703-346-2213.

Military Relocation Specialist serving military families relocating to and from the Pentagon, Fort Belvoir, Quantico MCB and all of the Military District of Washington installations. 

Military Relocation Professional


Check out www.varealestatetalk.com and www.cjrealtygroup.com for more information.

Integrity Real Estate Group
 
Real People*Real Life*Real Estate

Licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia



 

 

Comments (17)

Joshua Zargari
MJ Decorators Workshop LI staging and home decorating - Lynbrook, NY
MJ Decorators Workshop

Crime does not pay!

Thank you for sharing this news with us.

May 11, 2010 01:10 PM
Richard Iarossi
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - Crofton, MD
Crofton MD Real Estate, Annapolis MD Real Estate

Cindy,

I'm glad to see justice finally catching up to some of these crooks.

Rich

May 11, 2010 01:49 PM
James Downing - Metro DC Houses Team REALTORS®, CRS, GRI, ABR,MRP, MilRes
Real Living | At Home - Washington, DC
When Looking to Buy or Sell - Make the Right Move

GOOD.  The guy deserved every bit of it.  It's about time they start getting the scum off the street.

May 11, 2010 03:11 PM
Gerry Michaels
Glasswork Media Arts - Gettysburg, PA
GettysburgGerry Social Meida

And we Realtors wonder why the public looks down on us. I am glad they caught him and gave him a hefty sentence. I bet that while he was doing all this he was getting awards for his work. Very frustrating, thanks for getting this out there....

May 11, 2010 03:12 PM
TeamCHI - Complete Home Inspections, Inc.
Complete Home Inspections, Inc. - Brentwood, TN
Home Inspectons - Nashville, TN area - 615.661.029

Good! Too bad that he was not sentenced to a longer term. Most likely he will be out in a little over a year, provided he behaves himself...

Helping your help others live their American dream...

May 11, 2010 10:57 PM
Jackie Connelly-Fornuff
Douglas Elliman Real Estate in Babylon NY - Babylon, NY
"Moving at The Speed of YOU!"

Woohoo! They all deserved what they got! I wonder how many in the U.S. never got caught? Thank you for posting this Cindy!

May 11, 2010 11:22 PM
Cindy Jones
Integrity Real Estate Group - Woodbridge, VA
Pentagon, Fort Belvoir & Quantico Real Estate News

Joshua-it was a good payday while the scam was running full tilt.

Rich-so am I.  Hopefully we will see more that will deter those tettering on the edge now.

 

James-his business practices hurt a lot of people who didn't know any better.

May 12, 2010 01:03 AM
Cindy Jones
Integrity Real Estate Group - Woodbridge, VA
Pentagon, Fort Belvoir & Quantico Real Estate News

Gerry-His sales numbers certainly qualified him for top producer awards.  News sources say his profit from the deals was around $2M. 

Michael-I don't know if he will get out early but when he does he won't be staying in the US.


Jackie-My understanding of this case is that there will be more heads to roll besides just the Rojas family.  Supposedly there are about 20 people already names in some form with this case.

May 12, 2010 01:09 AM
Karen Kruschka
RE/MAX Executives - Woodbridge, VA
- "My Experience Isn't Expensive - It's PRICELESS"

Cindy  If I had my way we'd deport him now - why spend money keeping him in our prison?

May 12, 2010 09:55 AM
Chris Ann Cleland
Long and Foster Real Estate - Gainesville, VA
Associate Broker, Bristow, VA

Cindy:  So our justice system does work.  All we need now are Realtors® who are willing to report fraudelent or illegal behavoir when they see it.

May 12, 2010 11:07 AM
Cindy Jones
Integrity Real Estate Group - Woodbridge, VA
Pentagon, Fort Belvoir & Quantico Real Estate News

Karen-we have to exact our pound of flesh first.  Of course the idea that he can somehow repay $9.5M in restitution is laughable.

May 12, 2010 02:29 PM
Cindy Jones
Integrity Real Estate Group - Woodbridge, VA
Pentagon, Fort Belvoir & Quantico Real Estate News

Chris Ann-as you know if we don't report something that looks fishy no one is going to investigate.  To many people kept silent during the hot market otherwise he would not have gotten away with this for so long.

May 12, 2010 02:30 PM
Don Spera
CR Property Group, LLC - East York, PA
Serving York and Adams County, PA

No wonder the public has their guard up every time a Realtor approached them.

Jul 06, 2010 08:43 PM
Cindy Jones
Integrity Real Estate Group - Woodbridge, VA
Pentagon, Fort Belvoir & Quantico Real Estate News

Don-certainly when our market was scorching hot (unlike our current weather) there were far to many scams going on.  I understand a couple of other agent in our area are also under investigation by the FBI.

Jul 07, 2010 12:23 AM
Kathryn Maguire
GreatNorfolkHomes.com (757) 560-0881 - Chesapeake, VA
Serving Chesapeake, Norfolk, VA Beach

Thanks for this information.  I am glad they included restitution as part of the sentence.  Hopefully, it may make people think twice about unethical behavior.  (Too bad he could not spend his incarceration in a Bolivian jail...I am sure that would be much less pleasant!)

Jul 24, 2010 10:45 AM
Tony and Suzanne Marriott, Associate Brokers
Serving the Greater Phoenix and Scottsdale Metropolitan Area - Scottsdale, AZ
Haven Express @ Keller Williams Arizona Realty

We reward "good behavior" of Buyer Agents who have Buyers who purchase our short sale listings.  "Bad behavior" is .... "discouraged".

Sep 05, 2010 03:29 AM
Cindy Jones
Integrity Real Estate Group - Woodbridge, VA
Pentagon, Fort Belvoir & Quantico Real Estate News

Tony and Suzanne-I'm not 100% sure what your comment is referring to on this post but thanks for stopping by.

Sep 05, 2010 08:08 AM