Hollister
– A Hollister woman was convicted Wednesday of bilking a local
family out of $9,600 and forcing them into foreclosure in a home
refinance scam.
Hollister – A Hollister woman was convicted Wednesday of bilking a local family out of $9,600 and forcing them into foreclosure in a home refinance scam.
Diana Maria Lozano, 35, pleaded no contest to one felony count of obtaining money by false pretenses in a plea bargain with the San Benito County District Attorney’s Office.
Authorities said Lozano approached a family in August 2006 with a Shamrock Funding business card bearing her name and offered to refinance their Hollister home.
Although Lozano had worked for the company, she had not been employed there for more than four months when she approached the family, said Greg Dolan, the owner of Shamrock Funding.
After falling for Lozano’s refinance scheme for three months, the family approached District Attorney Candice Hooper.
Hooper said her office was pleased with the conviction.
“That seems to be a fair resolution,” Hooper said.
Lozano had faced charges of obtaining money by false pretenses, grand theft by embezzlement and two counts of forgery, all felonies, when she was arrested in February.
Her attorney, Greg LaForge, said his client is remorseful.
“All indications are that it was fair and reasonable,” LaForge said of his client’s plea.
Hooper told the Free Lance in February that Lozano befriended the Spanish-speaking family and took advantage of their trust in her.
As the family began to make cash payments, Lozano pocketed the money, prompting the victim’s lender to send foreclosure notices, Hooper previously told the Free Lance.
The family gave Lozano $2,100 upfront to begin payments on the refinance, police said. The family continued to make payments of $500 to $1,000 a week until November, when the father of the family received his first foreclosure notice, authorities said.
After the father called Lozano, she wrote two checks for $6,500 and $5,600 on Dec. 5 and Dec. 27 respectively, police said.
Both checks bounced when deposited, police said.
“The victim tried very hard with (Lozano) to resolve the matter,” Hooper said at Lozano’s arraignment in February. “She tried to make restitution, but those checks were no good.”
By February, the family had found another lender and was in good standing, Hooper said.
Dolan said he was taken in by Lozano’s story of a daughter stricken with cancer. He gave Lozano a chance to work for the company at the beginning of 2006.
“She worked here for a few months, and I literally mean off and on,” Dolan said.
During her time at Shamrock Funding, Dolan personally donated money to Lozano. He also helped organize donations for her ailing daughter and a trip to Disneyland for the family. But after watching Lozano drive to work every day in a new Ford Mustang and eat big lunches, other employees became annoyed, Dolan said. He asked Lozano to leave.
Lozano faces up to one year in state prison, according to the California Penal Code. She will be back in court June 20 for sentencing.
The prosecution indicated a sentence of felony probation and 120 days in county jail, according to court documents.
