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Realtor jailed for ‘destroying dreams' of naïve customers
May 27, 2010 By Brian Caldwell, Record staff
KITCHENER - A former Cambridge real estate agent who preyed on vulnerable clients was sentenced Wednesday to the equivalent of eight months in jail.
Steven Stojadinovich, 50, was also placed on probation for two years after a Kitchener jury found him guilty of fraud and forgery in connection with three house deals in 2005 and 2006.
"The dreams of the victims and their families were destroyed," Justice Barry Matheson said.
Both an agent and a mortgage broker, Stojadinovich targeted unsophisticated buyers to flip properties with assumable mortgages as he struggled with hundreds of thousands of debt of his own.
One couple thought they had bought their first house through Stojadinovich only to get evicted with four young children about six months later.
David and Natasha Embro put $11,000 down and made regular payments to Stojadinovich, often in cash, but never actually owned the house.
The mortgage was in arrears and the bank went after the real owner - a young man Stojadinovich befriended, then exploited to arrange the shady deals - for payment.
David Embro said in a victim impact statement that the family had just six hours to load whatever belongings they could into a cube van before leaving.
He said his children "no longer feel secure" and the financial and emotional stress contributed to the breakdown of the couple's marriage.
"This left me and my family with nothing," Embro said.
In another case, Stojadinovich - who was stripped of his real estate licence by the province in 2006 over the same three deals - took advantage of a woman selling her house to get out of a troubled marriage.
Crown prosecutor Neil Dietrich said the victims were inexperienced, in financial need and trusted Stojadinovich to handle details of the deals.
Although the frauds weren't huge - likely totalling just over $40,000 - he said they must be considered in light of the circumstances of the victims.
"These were their last dollars," Dietrich said. "These are people who couldn't qualify for conventional mortgages."
The sales of 32 Woolley St., 147 Maple St. and 118 Chalmers St. N., all involved Ryan Dewulf, the friend used by Stojadinovich because he had a good job and good credit.
Dewulf was sued and had to declare bankruptcy. So did the woman trying to get out of her rocky marriage.
Stojadinovich, who had been a real estate agent for 13 years, was having half his income garnisheed because he owed the Canada Revenue Agency more than $250,000.
He made the sales without the knowledge of his brokerage, Homelife Neighbourhood Realty, so he could keep all of the commissions for himself.
"In all of this, the motivating factor is greed," Dietrich said.
Stojadinovich repaid some of the victims after they asked questions at the brokerage and learned it had no record of them. He also forged numerous documents, including offers of purchase and sale, in an effort to cover up the scams.
A father of three, he had no criminal record before going into custody following his conviction in April.
Stojadinovich told the judge in a letter that he feels like a "caged animal." He also insisted he bent rules and made mistakes while trying to help people buy homes, not to rip them off.
"Nobody bothered to listen," he said of his trial. "Their minds were already made up."
He spent the equivalent of about three months in jail before his sentencing - 48 days counted on a two-for-one basis - leaving him with five months to serve.
David Embro said outside court that he was satisfied with the sentence after worrying Stojadinovich wouldn't be found guilty at all.
"It could have been more, but it's OK," he said. "He's got his freedom taken away for a few months and he hates it - which is the most important thing, I guess."
Dietrich asked for up to two years in jail. Defence lawyer Brad Pearson sought 12 to 15 months of house arrest.
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