Broker Accused of Embezzling to Be Arraigned

A Camarillo mortgage broker will be arraigned today in Ventura County Municipal Court on charges that he embezzled almost $500,000 from investors over six years, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office said.

Joseph Curren, 47, surrendered at the Ventura County Jail Wednesday, a month after a warrant was issued for his arrest on suspicion of grand theft and real estate fraud, Sheriff’s Detective Jean Miller said. He was being held in lieu of $1 million bail, Miller said.

“We were aware that he had obtained a passport, and we had every reason to believe he intended to flee,” Miller said.

The investigation is continuing into Curren’s business, Ventura County Properties Inc., Miller said. Investor losses could run into the millions of dollars, he said. Curren dealt largely in complicated real estate transactions involving buying and selling second- and third-trust deeds, Deputy Dist. Atty. James Irving said.

“We have a list of about 480 investors, but that doesn’t mean there are 480 victims,” Irving said. “We are going to have to wait to see if more people come to us.”

The charges allege that Curren bilked $480,000 from 15 Ventura County residents, Irving said.

Investors were tipped off to problems in the fall when they began having trouble collecting interest payments due them, Miller said. In December, Curren apparently closed his office and told clients he was leaving on vacation, she said.

Several investors contacted the district attorney’s office when they found there were no county records of property transactions that were supposed to have been made with their funds.

“People had invested with him for many years and had always received their returns,” Miller said. “They had no reason to question the transactions until they stopped receiving their money.”

She said the typical investor is a retired professional who is “not ignorant by any means.”