Two real estate foreclosure consultants convicted of defrauding
14 people, including some from Morgan Hill, were sentenced to 90
days in jail, according to the Santa Clara County district
attorney’s office.
Two real estate foreclosure consultants convicted of defrauding 14 people, including some from Morgan Hill, were sentenced to 90 days in jail, according to the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office.
Cary Jay Silberman, 53 of San Jose, and Robert Francis Childs, 44 of Dublin, were each convicted of one felony count of foreclosure consultant fraud, a press release from the D.A.’s office said. Silberman was additionally convicted on a misdemeanor count of unauthorized practice of law.
The defendants were sentenced Aug. 5 in Santa Clara County Superior Court, authorities said. In addition to 90 days in Santa Clara County Jail, they were sentenced to three years probation and full restitution to the victims. Silberman paid $16,745 and Childs paid $23,345 to a total of 14 victims.
As a condition of their predation, the defendants may not provide loan modification services, the press release said.
Childs gave seminars to real estate offices and groups of agents in Santa Clara County and Contra Costa County, prosecutors said. Under the business name “Pro Family Financial Systems,” Childs marketed himself as a debt counselor and referred loan modifications to Silberman.
Silberman operated a business called “Loan Deal,” which sold loan modification services, and held himself out as a lawyer despite having resigned from the California State Bar in 1997, the D.A.’s office press release said. In a separate prosecution, he is charged with unauthorized practice of medicine for actions taken while operating the business “Shiny Toes.”
Victims of the pair’s scam were from Morgan Hill and other cities in Santa Clara County and the East Bay, according to D.A.’s office spokeswoman Lisa McCrary.
The foreclosure fraud case was investigated by the D.A.’s Office real estate fraud unit and the San Jose Police Department. The D.A.’s Office advises homeowners to never pay an advance fee for loan modifications.
The Foreclosure Consultants Act makes it a crime for anyone, even an attorney or real estate agent, to collect advance fees to perform loan modification services on a mortgage secured by the borrower’s primary residence, the press release said. Homeowners may contact a HUD-certified foreclosure counselor by logging on at http://hud.gov or by calling the Foreclosure Help Hotline at (408) 794-1242.
