D.A. Accuses Glendale Man of $70,000 Home Loan Fraud

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has filed a criminal complaint against a Glendale man who authorities say defrauded a Sherman Oaks home loan company of $70,000 by taking out a loan against a house he did not own.

The man, identified as Basil Herman, 53, has been charged with forgery and grand theft in two other cases involving fraudulent loans made against houses in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles Police Detective Richard Vail said Thursday.

In those cases, Herman forged deeds for vacant houses, filed the deeds with the county registrar-recorder’s office, then secured loans made against the property without the true owners’ knowledge or permission, Vail said. A total of $250,000 was collected in those cases, he said.

The latest incident involved a $70,000 loan made to Herman by Allstate Home Loans of Sherman Oaks against a Los Feliz house in February, 1985, Vail said. Herman used the name Leonard Stiener to defraud the loan company, but assumed the names Richard Bassen and Jerry David Golden in the other cases, Vail said.

Herman, a former Valley real estate broker, has been arraigned on charges of forgery and grand theft in the earlier cases, Vail said.

Police said Herman will be arraigned Tuesday on a charge of grand theft in the Los Feliz incident. He is being held in County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.