TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

A federal judge Monday sentenced a former sales agent with the now defunct real estate firm of Crisp, Cole & Associates to 27 months in prison for his role in a massive mortgage fraud case.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill sentenced Robinson Dinh Nguyen, 31, of Fresno, to 27 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay $433,000 in restitution for conspiring to commit mail, wire and bank fraud.

"I think it was a fair sentence for a crime for which he took responsibility early," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Stanley A. Boone, one of two prosecuting the case. "He came in early and pleaded guilty, which says a lot."

Nguyen's attorney, Steven L. Crawford, did not immediately respond to messages left by telephone and email.

Nguyen pleaded guilty Oct. 7 of last year, admitting that between January 2004 and September 2007, he and a group of co-conspirators defrauded mortgage lenders and banks by submitting fraudulent statements in mortgage loan applications and related documents, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

The intent was to obtain loans for straw buyers and others purchasing property. According to court documents, the group bought, sold and refinanced real estate in order to skim equity from the properties based on artificially inflated home valuations.

The conspirators typically used close to 100 percent financing to extract the inflated equity amounts on each transaction, court records said.

Nguyen helped borrowers submit loan documents that contained false information about income, assets and employment, as well as the intent to reside in the property, which was important because owner-occupiers are eligible for more favorable loan terms, according to prosecutors.

Many of the properties purchased with the loan proceeds subsequently went into foreclosure.

This case against Nguyen followed an extensive investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General.

Two years ago, the California Office of Real Estate Appraisers, which licenses and regulates appraisers in the state, issued a stipulated settlement and disciplinary order suspending the license of Janet Vasquez for 60 days. Vasquez also was placed on probation for three years, during which her work is subject to review by the state.

Vasquez appraised a house in support of a mortgage loan to Staci Martinez. Martinez bought the house in May 2006 with a $925,000 loan that later defaulted, sending the house to foreclosure, according to public records.

In March 2006, just two months prior to Martinez's purchase, the home had been sold for $774,950 to Yennhi Nguyen.

Yennhi Nguyen is related to Robinson Nguyen, the Crisp & Cole agent sentenced Monday.

That home purchase was one of many real estate transactions that came under federal scrutiny, eventually leading to an FBI raid of the offices of Crisp & Cole and their associates in September 2007.

Nine co-defendants are scheduled to appear in court Feb. 27. They are: David Marshall Crisp, Carlyle Lee Cole, Julie Dianne Farmer, Sneha Ramesh Mohammadi, Jayson Peter Costa, Jeriel Salinas, Michael Angelo Munoz, Jennifer Anne Crisp and Caleb Lee Cole.

Five others have pleaded guilty in related cases, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.