Apartment Owner Arrested in Fraud Scheme for Repair Loan

ice have arrested an Anaheim real estate businessman for allegedly plotting to take a kickback of as much as $6,660 from a federally financed housing rehabilitation program administered by the city.

Ninh Van Vo, 33, is to be arraigned Aug. 9 for solicitation to commit grand theft.

As owner of California Network Investment Co., Vo owned an apartment building at 2123 Myrtle Ave. and was eligible to receive low-interest, deferred-payment loans from the city if he used the money to make repairs.

When he prepared to seek such a loan last May, however, Vo allegedly asked contractor James Amaroso to report that the remodeling work would cost $19,160 although he had actually agreed to do it for $12,500, according to Long Beach Police Detective Ted Hulsey. Vo wanted Amaroso to kick back the difference, and in return, the businessman allegedly promised to give the contractor more work, Hulsey said.

Amaroso told city officials about the alleged scheme, and police spent about three months investigating, Hulsey said. Vo was arrested Friday at his Long Beach office, at 1036 1/2 E. Anaheim St., and released a short time later on $5,000 bond. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a year in jail and a fine of $10,000.